The Southeastern Conference produced the top two teams Tuesday night in the first college football playoff rankings of the 2017 season, with Georgia being pegged No. 1 by the 13-member selection committee and Alabama No. 2.
It’s the first time in the short history of the college football playoff that the same league produced the top two teams.
Georgia and Alabama are each 8-0 overall and 5-0 in conference play, with the Bulldogs winning their five league contests by an average score of 42-10 and the Crimson Tide by 48-8. Georgia won 20-19 at No. 24 Notre Dame on Sept. 9, while Alabama opened Sept. 2 with a 24-7 dumping of No. 3 Florida State in Atlanta, but those two nonconference foes have been heading in opposite directions since.
Notre Dame is now 7-1 and No. 3 in the playoff rankings, while FSU is 2-5 and in danger of missing out on a bowl game for the first time since 1976.
“At the end of the day, it was the two wins against CFP Top 25 teams (Mississippi State and Notre Dame) for Georgia, especially the win over Notre Dame,” playoff committee chair Kirby Hocutt said Tuesday night on ESPN. “That gave Georgia the very slight edge over Alabama this week.”