With just Friday night's game against Georgia Tech (7:30 p.m., ABC) to go, the Georgia Bulldogs (9-2) are sitting pretty for a spot in the College Football Playoffs.
Tuesday night's latest rankings have the Bulldogs moving up from No. 10 to No. 7, which if the season were to end today, would have Georgia hosting one of the four first-round playoff games against No. 10.
The playoff projections are based solely on the new CFP rankings, meaning many of the pairings are likely to change, including Georgia's, which currently has the Bulldogs set to host Tennessee.
Regardless of what happens Friday night, the Bulldogs would earn a first-round bye by beating either Texas or Texas A&M in next week's SEC Championship. With a win over Tech, the Bulldogs could still receive a playoff bid by advancing to the SEC title game.
However, Kirby Smart won't be concerning himself with any scenarios until after Friday night's game with arch-rival Georgia Tech.
"No, we've got work," said Smart after being asked if he was watching Tuesday night's rankings show. "We start right now at about 6:30 and go to about 10 or so. Usually, my phone starts blowing up with texts, but I don't watch it."
Once that's over, he'll turn his attention to the SEC Championship and what his Bulldogs need to do to win that before hopefully focusing on a long playoff run.
Playoff projections based on Tuesday night's rankings
Based on Tuesday’s rankings, pairings for the playoffs would be as follows:
First Round
G1. No. 12 Arizona State at No. 5 Ohio State
G2. No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Georgia
G3 No. 11 Indiana at No. 6 Penn State
G4 No. 10 SMU at Notre Dame.
Quarterfinal
G5. Arizona State-Ohio State winner vs No. 4 Boise State
G6. Tennessee-Georgia winner vs No. 1 Oregon
G7. Indiana-Penn State winner vs No. 3 Miami
G8. SMU-Notre Dame winner vs No. 2 Texas
Semifinal
Game 9: Game 5 winner vs Game 6 winner.
Game 10. Game 7 winner vs Game 8 winner.
Final
Game 11: Game 9 winner vs Game 10 winner.
The first-round playoff games are scheduled for December 20, with the higher-ranked seeds boasting home-field advantage.
Then, the quarterfinals will be played on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, where the Chick-fil-A Bowl, the Rose Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, and the Fiesta Bowl serve as the hosts.
Semifinal games will be held at the Orange and Cotton Bowl on Jan. 9, with the National Championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Jan. 20.
