Alabama Football: Georgia in 1st place is better for Crimson Tide

With the college football regular season drawing closer to the end, Alabama football should feel lucky that the Georgia Bulldogs are ranked 1st overall.

Anyone remember when the television show Survivor had the best Reality TV game show player, Boston Rob Mariano? Remember when, in Survivor: All-Stars, Boston Rob made the greatest move in the game’s history? He positioned his love interest, Amber Brkich, to be in the lead, knowing that the other players on the jury were jealous of him. Just before the final vote, he proposed to Amber and she accepted.

Whether intentional or not, Boston Rob was guaranteed to win the grand prize, either as the winner or by association.

Alabama football fans should feel the same way about Georgia being ranked first overall in the college football playoff standings.

With Mississippi State, Mercer, and Auburn in their path, if all goes to plan, Alabama should remain undefeated for the rest of the season. Georgia should do the same, with Auburn, and unranked Kentucky and Georgia Tech filling out the rest of their schedule. Anything can happen in college football, but it seems to be destiny for the Crimson Tide and the Bulldogs to meet in the Southeastern Conference championship game.

That outcome favors Alabama, if the rankings stay the same.

Notre Dame, ranked third overall, has seventh ranked Miami and unranked Navy and Stanford left on their schedule. That pathway does not seem likely to help the Fighting Irish leaping over either Georgia or Alabama, if they both stay undefeated.

The same could be said for fourth ranked Clemson, who have Florida State, Citadel, and South Carolina at the end of their schedule. FSU was even beaten by the Crimson Tide to start the season, so a Clemson victory this week will not do much to justify moving up a ranking, considering the Tigers have a loss to Syracuse.

Say all four playoff teams run the rest of their tables, winning every game that they have for the rest of the regular season. Alabama would likely stay in second place before the SEC championship game. Some Alabama football fans may feel disrespected to have their team fall behind Georgia in the rankings; however, the smarter Crimson Tide fans will not be sweating the small stuff.

Just like Boston Rob, Alabama would be hedging their bet if they cheered for Georgia staying undefeated at the same time that the Crimson Tide does the same. Even if Georgia were to defeat the Tide in the championship game, Alabama would only have one loss and it would be at the hands of the number-one ranked team in the country. With Notre Dame’s weak schedule and Clemson’s disappointing loss, it would be very hard to argue that Alabama would not deserve a playoff spot.

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Also, if Georgia were to lose to a lower ranked team in the Crimson Tide, they would have only one loss but would possibly lose their playoff spot to a team like Oklahoma. Likely not, but crazier things have happened in college football rankings in the past.

Either way, heavy is the head that wears the college football rankings crown. Georgia, at the moment, is running the show but they are also wearing a huge target on their backs. Alabama can use the second place ranking as bulletin board material for motivation while breathing a sigh of relief that they may have two chances at making the playoffs.

Next: How come Dan Mullen can't beat the Tide?

Alabama fans should be happy for Kirby Smart, their former defensive coordinator and current head coach at Georgia. He gets to be running the first place team into December. However, once the SEC championship game is finished, either he will be joining Alabama in the playoffs or watching a Crimson Tide playoff game on his television at home.

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