Ohio State’s first door to climbing in the final College Football Playoff rankings has closed.
The Buckeyes seemingly had a chance to jump Georgia in the rankings if the Bulldogs – ranked just one spot ahead of Ohio State in the penultimate rankings – suffered their third loss of the season in the SEC Championship Game. Instead, Georgia earned a 22-19 overtime win over Texas to secure a conference title and a first-round bye in the CFP.
Texas, who was ranked second in the penultimate CFP rankings after an 11-1 regular season, is likely to slot in as either the No. 5 or 6 seed in the CFP, depending on whether it falls below Notre Dame in the final rankings. It would come as a big surprise if Texas fell below Ohio State, given that Texas’ only two losses are to Georgia while it has a 31-12 road win over the same Michigan team that beat the Buckeyes in Columbus last weekend.
That leaves Ohio State in position to be either the No. 7 or 8 seed, with the Buckeyes still having one possible – though not guaranteed – path to move up if Penn State loses to Oregon in the Big Ten Championship Game.
Georgia defeated Texas despite losing starting quarterback Carson Beck to an elbow injury on the final play of the first half. Backup quarterback Gunner Stockton completed only 12 of 16 passing attempts for 71 yards in the second half and overtime, but that proved to be enough for the Bulldogs.
Quinn Ewers had 358 passing yards but threw two interceptions, while the Longhorns ran for only 31 yards on 28 attempts and had two missed field goals by Bert Auburn.
