The CFP selection committee will release its first rankings this evening. There will be breathless analysis, indignation, and charges of SEC bias / antipathy. What should Georgia fans expect?

I have no idea. The Dawgs will be ranked near the top. Not at the top, not in position for a playoff spot, but not at the bottom either. It doesn’t matter.

I take that back – it does matter in the sense that the initial poll will tell us not only the teams between Georgia and a playoff spot but also the criteria and thought process the committee will use throughout the rest of the season. More interesting will be the fluidity of the rankings as the year goes on. Will the committee hold its initial top four in a king-of-the-mountain style until one of them loses, or will they be willing to move teams in and out as resumes change?

I don’t know why they’re releasing rankings before the end of the season. It’s a form of transparency I guess, and Lord knows it will create a torrent of discussion and argument. As we said when the idea of a selection committee was put forward, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel here. A playoff, and a selection committee to determine the participants, isn’t new ground for college athletics. It’s how just about every other college sport does it. Instead, along with the help of the playoff’s media partners, we turn a fairly bland and routine committee process into show, and we’ll do it for the next six weeks or so.

I’d recommend to ignore it all, but that’s impossible as an engaged fan. You will be hit over the head with the rankings, the evaluation of the rankings, and the evaluation (informed or otherwise) about the process of arriving at the rankings. Just do yourself a favor and don’t put much energy into it. If Georgia wins out, they’ll be a 12-1 SEC champion, and then they’ll earn a playoff position. It’s not much more complicated than that, and it’s really the only way Georgia can – and should – end up in the playoff.