Georgia Bulldogs fans need to be rooting for surprising SEC teams to win on bye week to help their College Football Playoff odds
Georgia Bulldogs already need some help to get to the SEC Championship game, so rooting for the right teams might matter
Somehow the college football season is already more than halfway over with October nearly coming to a close. The Georgia Bulldogs are 6-1 as they rest and recover on their bye week, but there are still a ton of games being played this weekend that impact Kirby Smart and company greatly.
Which teams should Georgia fans surprisingly be rooting for this weekend based on the Bulldogs’ schedule and what they need to happen to both make the SEC Championship Game and the College Football Playoff? Let’s dive in.
No. 20 LSU Tigers vs. No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies
Wait, Georgia fans need to to be rooting for LSU right now? Absolutely. Texas A&M avoids playing both Alabama and Georgia this year somehow, so if Georgia is going to pass the Aggies in the SEC standings (and in the minds of the College Football Playoff selection committee) then someone else is going to have to take them down.
Right now Georgia sits behind both Alabama (because of the head-to-head loss) and the Aggies in the SEC standings–nobody else. The quickest path to the SEC Championship game and perhaps a first round bye in the College Football Playoff for Georgia currently runs through the Aggies failure.
That might be a tough ask considering how putrid the LSU offense has been. However, the Aggies did just let 2-5 Arkansas take them down to the wire in a 45-42 game this past week.
No. 8 Ole Miss vs. No. 13 Oklahoma
Believe it or not, Georgia needs to be rooting for the Ole Miss Rebels this Saturday when they face off against Oklahoma, a week after taking down Lane Kiffin and his crew. Why? First off, a win for Ole Miss props up Georgia’s perceived strength of schedule and strength of record. That much is obvious.
However, what might be more important is that Oklahoma keeps losing. Right now, the Sooners only have one SEC loss as they sit at 6-1 overall. Georgia does not play Oklahoma this year, but the Sooners do play a ton of the same SEC teams that the Bulldogs do. Why is that important? The third tie-breaker in the SEC standings is “win-loss record against common opponents”.
The Sooners play Ole Miss this weekend, then Tennessee and Alabama after that. If Oklahoma beats one or both of the Vols and Crimson Tide then things get crazy complicated for Georgia and their SEC Championship bid. If Ole Miss just beats the Sooners this weekend, then Georgia has a massive edge on them immediately.
No. 22 Texas vs. Mississippi State
This one is pretty simple. Texas needs to keep winning, including this week against Mississippi State. Why? Georgia needs the Texas Longhorns to keep looking better and better down the stretch here for multiple reasons.
One, if the Bulldogs’ pass rush failures finally cost them against the Longhorns here in a few weeks, the loss looks more defensible to the College Football Playoff selection committee. Two, if Georgia does beat Texas then it looks like another “quality win” that could pad the Bulldogs’ playoff resume. And three, regardless of the outcome in the Texas game, having the Longhorns succeed helps Georgia’s perceived strength of schedule if the worst happens and the Bulldogs drop an eight-overtime loss to Georgia Tech at the end of the year (which almost happened in 2024).
We’ll be back with more Georgia Bulldogs coverage here at A to Z Sports soon! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!
