ATLANTA–The UGA football team had a very productive Saturday, clinching the SEC East title and getting early closure on their opponent for the conference championship game (surprise, it's top-ranked Alabama).
The good tidings continued on Sunday, with Georgia moving up one slot in the USA TODAY Sports/Amway Coaches Poll (No. 5 overall) and eliminating any doubts about its College Football Playoff status, moving forward.
As in, just keep winning ... and nothing would preclude the Dawgs from reaching the four-team Playoff in back-to-back years.
Under this hypothetical, No. 6 UGA could eventually own a top-2 seed.
Yes, UGA locked up the SEC East on the first Saturday of November (thanks to a 34-17 road rout of Kentucky), but there's still plenty to do before encountering Alabama on Dec. 1 in Atlanta (Mercedes-Benz Stadium).
There are still three games left on the regular-season docket, including two rivalry games–Auburn at home (this Saturday) and Georgia Tech at home (Nov. 24).
A few notables about the USA TODAY coaches poll:
a) Alabama (9-0), which throttled LSU 29-0 on the road, accounted for 63 of 64 first-place votes.
b) There's a clear line of distinction between No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Notre Dame.
c) The top 5 teams from this week's poll all control their own destiny, in terms of qualifying for the four-team Playoff. If this feeling holds, this would likely preclude the SEC from putting two teams in the national semifinals.
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Notre Dame
4. Michigan
5. Georgia
6. Oklahoma
7. Ohio State
8. West Virginia
9. Washington State
10. LSU
11. UCF
12. Kentucky
13. Syracuse
14. Boston College
15. Mississippi State
16. Utah State
17. Fresno State
18. Washington
19. Texas
20. Penn State
21. Florida
22. North Carolina State
23. Cincinnati
24. Utah
25. Iowa State
