I have a theory. Mind you, it’s nothing more than that. Pure speculation on my part, in other words. But it’s how I’ve to come to settle for myself what the selection committee did to Georgia after the SECCG.
I start with the belief that the committee saw the train wreck coming a couple of weeks out and knew it had too many teams for too few spots at crunch time. What to do? It’s not as if taking a most deserving tack or a best tack would solve the dilemma; some team or teams were bound to be left out in controversy. Which meant the committee would be hearing serious criticism any way it went.
I think what they decided to do was fall back on a formula that would reduce the level of subjectivism going into the final cut. If nothing else, that would let them feel more comfortable that the ultimate decision was sort of taken out of their hands. (It wasn’t really, of course, since they were the ones who chose this particular route, but still…)
And I think the choice they made was to treat three games — the Michigan-Ohio State game, the Pac-12 championship game and the SECCG — as de facto CFP quarterfinal games, meaning at least in the sense that they were single game elimination contests for the losing teams in each. That reduced the size of the final field considerably. Texas was likely in, given the win over ‘Bama and the draw they pulled in their conference championship game.
FSU? Well, the ‘Noles should have been a problemmatic decision, but the committee took that Travis injury and rode FSU out of consideration immediately. Fair? Nah. Convenient? Absolutely.
Georgia, then, wasn’t out because of either best or deserving considerations, but because the committee had to reach a decision. Ironically, of course, after the CFP plays out, the Dawgs will find themselves no worse than third in the final polls (should Michigan and Washington play for the natty) or second. Helluva way to run a railroad, if you ask me.
Again, all of this is straight out of my ass, but it makes sense to me. You know what even makes more sense? Deciding the CFP field by approval voting. Eh, but what do I know?
Get The Picture 
You must be logged in to post a comment.