This week, the College Football Playoff selection committee deigned to suggest that the Georgia Bulldogs — who have won two of the last three national championships and entered this same season as the preseason No. 1 in the poll AP – might not qualify for the last 12. team field.

If you ranked the teams in this week’s CFP rankings into one category, you would quickly discover that No. 12 Georgia would actually be the first team eliminated, as No. 13 Boise State would slide into the field as the top seed 12, with the fifth highest ranked conference champion assured to be on the field. However, this week’s rankings are not the real ones. They’re made for TV, and there’s still plenty of data to collect before Selection Sunday (December 8). That’s when we’ll know who’s really in and out.

But the level of scrutiny the committee has received so far should come as no surprise. Choosing between teams in the 5-12 range is much more difficult than simply ranking 1-4 as has been the case for the past decade. There are always teams with obvious flaws when you arrive in the bubble. This particularly chaotic regular season only underlines this.

Still, it was shocking to see the Bulldogs as the first team out of the bracket — even though they just lost 18 points to Ole Miss, their second loss of the season. Carson Beck hasn’t played well in over a month, turning the ball over more than any other quarterback in the SEC. Even the defense, a calling card of Kirby Smart’s teams, has been gashed at times this season.

Logically, it makes sense that Georgia, after two losses, could miss the playoffs. Four SEC teams are in this week’s projected bracket! It’s not like the league itself is being overlooked, although fans in the Southeast certainly feel bad about the Big Ten having four teams ranked in the committee’s top five. Both the ACC and Big 12 are considering the very real possibility of being single-bid leagues.

So why the uproar over Georgia? Part of that is because it’s Georgia. With the retirement of Nick Saban, Kirby Smart has assumed the role of standard bearer for the sport, his level of success and recent titles setting the new benchmark. The other part is that the ‘Dawgs played the toughest schedule in the country, based on the strength of ESPN’s schedule metrics. They lost two games (and almost lost to Kentucky) because they faced tougher opponents to beat — and fans want that to make up for or brush off the losses.

“Their attack was not consistent – ​​the committee discussed that,” said selection committee chairman Warde Manuel. “They struggled with some turnovers. The defense was solid, although in the loss to Ole Miss we felt that played a role in the offense’s struggles; their defense was not bad on the field.

Manuel also pointed out that because the committee adhered to its principle that head-to-head results matter, Georgia needed to be placed behind the two teams it lost to (Alabama and Ole Miss). Again, this is all pretty logical.

Still, it has caused something of an existential crisis among those who support the Bulldogs and among those who believe the SEC is the premier conference in the country. They want to believe that a Georgia team with two losses is a lock for the CFP. They want to believe that a Georgian team with three defeats can also enter the field.