So one conversation is done — Alabama is in the College Football Playoff along with Georgia. But another begins — did the Tide sneak into a better draw than the Bulldogs? We’ll break it down, fresh off the CFP announcement.

The case for Alabama

If you think Bama’s draw is tougher, well, there are reasons in your favor.

First, the Tide open with the team that isn’t just numero uno in the CFP rankings but is the defending national champion, Clemson. Of course, the last two years have brought epic Alabama-Clemson showdowns for the national title. Having to play Clemson and then face another game is the equivalent of having Ali-Frazier and then telling the winner that George Foreman has been busy honing his skills for a fight the following week.

Moreover, systemically, Clemson bears a more than passing resemblance to Auburn — well, at least much more so than the other teams Alabama could have drawn.

The Tide will see a steady, system-minded QB backing a dynamic running game and a stingy defense. Except, of course, Clemson beat the crap out of Auburn on Sept. 9, laying waste to the Tigers’ offensive line. It’ll be a tough CFP road for Bama, just in terms of the opening week.

And then the next week — if the Tide get past the Tigers — they would face either the most productive offense in college football (that would be Oklahoma) OR one of the most vicious defenses (Georgia) a week after that defense put the clamps on the nation’s top offense.

Either way, from the standpoint of setting up a knock-down, drag-out game one and following it with a completely different and potentially charged up second opponent, the Tide faithful can find some reasons to not like this draw.

The case for Georgia

On the other hand, Georgia goes out of the frying pan and into the fire.

The Bulldogs saw absolutely nothing in the SEC anything like Oklahoma. Missouri might be a starving homeless man’s Oklahoma, and the Tigers put up four touchdown passes, including two 63-yard bombs, on the Bulldogs.

Seriously, in terms of facing passing teams, UGA saw Mizzou and … who else? Notre Dame? South Carolina? Kirby Smart not only has to come off the emotional high of winning the conference and has to prepare for his first CFP game, but he has to do it against a team that is stylistically unlike anything his team has seen.

On top of that, there is the new kid to the party element for Georgia. If anybody is prepared to draw up a plan for an unusual opponent, it’s Bama, which gets CFP bids like the Homecoming Queen gets prom invitations. Georgia hasn’t even sniffed the CFP since … well, since there’s been a CFP.

And if the Bulldogs get through an Oklahoma matchup, well, they either draw the defending champ or the guy who is Darth Vader to Kirby Smart’s Luke Skywalker.

Could there be a more uncomfortable scenario looming for a Bulldogs fan? Your team avenged the loss to Auburn, you grabbed your first SEC title since 2005, and then you somehow sneak past the big-play offense you haven’t seen … and your second-year coach gets to face the guy who is presumed to have taught him a fair chunk of everything he knows.

They either face that or the defending champion, which by comparison looks downright favorable.

The verdict

A case can be made that Alabama’s matchup is tough, but in the big picture, their draw is the better of the two. And it isn’t close.

One thing is for sure — if Georgia runs the table to win this thing, nobody can say the Bulldogs had it easy. Oh well, the only thing worse than Georgia’s draw is Ohio State’s draw. A bad seat at the big table is better than the nice chair at the kiddie table.