UF Gators jumped Penn State in CFP rankings. Why does it matter for the Orange Bowl?
While the top four remained the same in the penultimate College Football Playoff rankings, the Florida Gators likely are assured a New Year’s Six Bowl following Saturday’s regular-season finale.
UF defeated rival Florida State 40-17, and Alabama stumbled in the rankings following an Iron Bowl loss to Auburn.
The real key, though, is the Gators jumping Penn State, who defeated Rutgers 27-6, in the CFP rankings released Tuesday.
Florida moved from No. 11 to No. 9, while Penn State held at No. 10 despite winning Saturday.
Why does that matter?
Because the Gators moving ahead of the Nittany Lions means UF is likely the second-ranked team from either the SEC and Big Ten that isn’t playing in the CFP.
And that means placement in the Orange Bowl against the top-ranked ACC team not in the CFP, which currently is Virginia.
The Orange Bowl pits an ACC team against either a team from the SEC or Big Ten or Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are ranked No. 16 in the CFP, though.
LSU and Georgia are both in the top four right now, but play each other in the SEC Championship. An LSU win means Georgia will likely stay ahead of the Gators in the final rankings, and be the conference’s representative in the Sugar Bowl against a Big 12 team.
That Big 12 team would be either Oklahoma or Baylor. If Georgia loses to LSU and Utah stumbles in Friday’s Pac-12 title game against Oregon, then the Oklahoma-Baylor winner is likely to move into the top four while the loser would head to the Sugar Bowl.
A Georgia win over LSU would probably still keep LSU in the top four and mean Florida would head to the Sugar Bowl.
In either case, the Gators are most likely playing a NY6 game. Whether it’s in South Florida at the Orange Bowl or in New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl is a toss up depending on what happens with this weekend’s conference championship games.
Here are the other NY6 bowl tie-ins for this season:
▪ Rose Bowl (Big Ten vs. Pac-12)
▪ Cotton (At-large or Group of Five vs. At-large)
▪ Peach (National semifinal)
▪ Fiesta (National semifinal)
A path to the playoffs is quite low for the Gators considering that even with some chaos this weekend — Clemson and Utah lose — they’re likely still outside the top four with the Big 12 winner vaulting up and Georgia and/or Clemson staying ahead.
