ATHENS — Georgia football vs. Carson Beck in the College Football Playoff is among the scenarios floating in the universe amid what has been an unpredictable season.
The most recent “Bubble watch,” per ESPN expert Heather Dinich, projects the Bulldogs on a collision course with Beck and the projected No. 1-seeded Hurricanes.
UGA will need to beat Auburn at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday to stay on the projected ESPN track.
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Georgia is projected to finish as the No. 8 seed and play host to projected No. 9 seed Indiana, with the winner advancing to play Miami in the quarterfinals.
Beck, who played five seasons at Georgia before transferring to Miami after last season, is currently the co-Heisman Trophy favorite after notable wins over Notre Dame, South Florida and Florida State on what was a top-heavy schedule
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The Bulldogs, of course, scored a 44-41 overtime win over Tennessee before dropping a 24-21 decision to Alabama in Athens and now face a challenging stretch at Auburn, at home against Ole Miss, in Jacksonville against Florida, at Mississippi State and then home against Texas.
Coach Kirby Smart has led his team through this journey before, as Georgia has qualified for the College Football Playoff four times since its inception in 2014.
Indeed, making the CFP has become the Bulldogs’ standard, as they have made the field — it changed from four teams to 12 teams in 2024 — three of the past four seasons.
Miami has never made the College Football Playoff, and hasn’t had back-to-back finishes in the AP Top 25 since former Georgia coach Mark Richt was at the helm for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
There’s plenty of time for the College Football Playoff to be scrambled, and it’s a near certainty that it will before the first CFP rankings are released on Nov. 4.
But the possibility of Georgia playing against Miami -- or Alabama -- certainly moves the needle and is one of the added engagement features the playoff era has brought to college football.
Here are the current ESPN CFP field projections:
No. 1 seed Miami (ACC champ)
No. 2 seed Ohio State (Big Ten champ)
No. 3 seed Oregon
No. 4 seed Texas A&M (SEC champ)
First-round games
(On campus Dec. 19 and 20)
No. 12 Memphis (American champ) at No. 5 Ole Miss
No. 11 Tennessee at No. 6 Alabama
No. 10 Texas Tech (Big 12 champ) at No. 7 Oklahoma
No. 9 Indiana at No. 8 Georgia
Quarterfinal games
(Played at Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl sites)
No. 12 Memphis/No. 5 Ole Miss winner vs. No. 4 Texas A&M
No. 11 Tennessee/No. 6 Alabama winner vs. No. 3 Oregon
No. 10 Texas Tech/No. 7 Oklahoma winner vs. No. 2 Ohio State
No. 9 Indiana/No. 8 Georgia winner vs. No. 1 Miami
