As NCAA football’s top division heads into its first national playoffs, Atlanta is stepping up as a center of the gridiron world.
Atlanta, home of the college football Hall of Fame, seeks to host the 2018 National Championship game, building upon the Peach Bowl’s rise this year to the elite bowl club.
The city’s hometown team is also making its mark. Georgia Tech, on the wings of its surprising overtime win over Georgia, heads to Saturday’s ACC championship game against undefeated Florida State.
A Tech win would scramble the playoffs picture. If the Yellow Jackets pull off the upset against Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston and Florida State, the Seminoles, who hasn’t been a darling of the polls thus far, probably would be knocked out of the four-team playoffs. However, if the game is a close one, Florida State might still get in.
Alabama and Oregon if they win this week will make the playoffs with one loss each. Other teams in the playoffs hunt such as Ohio State, TCU and Baylor, also have a single defeat. The committee choosing the playoffs participants might give Florida State strong consideration even if the Seminoles fall to Tech.
With two losses, Tech appears out of the playoffs picture, even if the Yellow Jackets win convincingly in the ACC championship. But Tech, with10 wins, is in line for a major bowl. However, if several one-loss teams fall this week, the playoffs door could open for a team with two losses. That gives the Yellow Jackets at least a glimmer of hope if they can whip the ‘Noles. Even if they don’t make the national championship field, the Yellow Jackets are the champions of the state of Georgia, breaking a five-game losing streak to the ‘Dawgs. The Jackets win was part of an ACC sweep over the SEC.
While local fans might like to see the Yellow Jackets in this year’s Peach Bowl only blocks away from Georgia Tech’s campus, they appear headed for the Orange Bowl.
Georgia before its loss to Tech had been projected as a Peach Bowl participant. The Dawgs’ already disappointing season worsened when Missouri beat Arkansas to take a spot in the SEC championship game. Now, with the loss to Tech, Georgia’s bowl outlook is clouded.
While neither Georgia nor Tech looks to make the Peach Bowl, the game in its first year among the bowl elite will draw a major matchup. Known for several years as the Chick Fil A Bowl, the Peach joins the Orange, Sugar, Rose, Fiesta and Cotton in the top tier of bowls. Two of the elite bowls each year will serve as the sites of championship semifinals games. Those not part of the semifinals will host power teams that fall short of the playoffs. This year, the Peach will be a “host bowl,” and will debut as the site of the national semifinals on Dec. 31, 2016, before the national championship game in January 2017.
With the new Atlanta Stadium rising, Atlanta is seeking to host the college football national championship game there in January 2018. The new Falcons home is scheduled to open in spring 2017. Atlanta has already nailed down the 2020 national basketball Final Four at the new stadium.
Team Atlanta – with representatives of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, Atlanta Sports Council, Atlanta Falcons, Peach Bowl, city of Atlanta, Georgia Dome, Georgia World Congress Center and the state of Georgia – is behind the national championship bid.
Atlanta also shows its college football colors as the site of the annual SEC Championship game, which in the past has often decided a slot in the BCS championship game. With the playoffs replacing the BCS, the SEC game will still play a central role, as No. 1 Alabama seeks to secure a playoffs bid with a win over Missouri.
A Tigers win would likely mean that the SEC, known as the top football conference, would not place a team in the playoffs. Mississippi State, a playoffs contender for most of the year, fell out with a loss to state rival and one-time contender Ole Miss.
While Arthur Blank’s palace glows as the city’s new darling, the prematurely obsolete Georgia Dome apparently will have to be kept around to host the national football semifinals in December 2016. That month will also mark the Dome’s last SEC championship game. Conference fans will keep vivid memories of the great title games played there.
