Selection committee starts Bulldogs at No.6

UGA can take big step by defeating Kentucky and clinching SEC East.

Georgia is No. 6 in the College Football Playoff selection committee’s first rankings of the season.

The committee placed these teams ahead of the Bulldogs in the rankings unveiled Tuesday night: defending national cham-

pion Alabama at No. 1, Clemson at No. 2, LSU at No. 3, Notre Dame at No. 4 and Michigan at No. 5.

Those rankings are merely the starting point for the 13-member CFP committee, which will

re-rank teams each Tuesday through November. The group’s final rankings Dec. 2 will determine the playoff field, with the top four teams at that point securing berths.

Two key SEC games Saturday will test the committee’s early order: Alabama at LSU and Georgia at No. 9 Kentucky.

Although Georgia begins outside the top four, as expected, the Bulldogs appear well-positioned to move up if — big if — they can sweep their remaining regular-season games (Kentucky, Auburn, Massachusetts and Georgia Tech) and beat Alabama or LSU in the SEC Championship game at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Dec. 1.

The winner of the Georgia-Kentucky game will clinch the SEC East title and a berth in the conference championship game.

One interesting decision by the CFP committee Tuesday was ranking oneloss LSU one spot ahead of unbeaten Notre Dame. Committee chairman Rob Mullens, the athletic director at Oregon, cited LSU’s “quality wins” over Georgia and Mississippi State and “just the close loss” to Florida.

The Nos. 1 and 2 teams, Alabama and Clemson, are undefeated.

Rounding out the top 10 behind Georgia are Oklahoma, Washington State, Kentucky and Ohio State, all of which have one loss.

Florida, which lost last week to Georgia, is ranked No. 11, followed by unbeaten Central Florida at No. 12.

While the Associated Press and coaches’ polls begin their rankings before the season, the playoff committee holds off until the final week of October so that it can measure teams entirely by the current season’s performances, not by projections or past seasons.

The committee’s final rankings in December will set the playoff bracket, with No. 1 facing No. 4 and No. 2 facing No. 3 in the semifinals, which this season will be played in the Orange and Cotton bowls Dec. 29.

The national championship game will be played Jan. 7 in Santa Clara, Calif.

This is the fifth season of the playoff, which in 2014 replaced the controversial Bowl Championship Series as college football’s method of determining its national champion.

Georgia Tech athletic director Todd Stansbury is one of six new members of the selection committee as he starts a three-year term.

CURTIS COMPTON / CCOMPTON@AJC.COM Kirby Smart and the No. 6 Bulldogs will likely move up in the CFP rankings next week if they beat Kentucky, and No. 1 Alabama gives No. 3 LSU its second loss.

BANDRES@AJC.COM BOB ANDRES / Linebacker D’Andre Walker and the rest of the Bulldogs will look to shake up the early CFP order.