Georgia Bulldogs fans everywhere were surprised to see their team drop out of the current College Football Playoff field after they suffered their second loss of the season.
Georgia, which started out the year as the preseason favorite to win the national championship, has already lost more regular season games this season than it has at any point since 2020. The Bulldogs, led by Kirby Smart, are now fighting for their College Football Playoff lives, but they've been particularly chatty this week heading into the rivalry matchup with Tennessee.
First came Kirby Smart already campaigning for his team to get into the playoff based on the merit of playing in the SEC.
“I don't know how much the committee values it… they're looking at the game on the TV," Smart said via Clutch Points. "They're not at the stadium, hearing the crowd noise, knowing the atmosphere that you're playing in. It's very different when you play on the road in our league. I think that compared to some other leagues, it's tougher.”
Then came University of Georgia Athletic Director Josh Brooks questioning the "consistency" of the College Football Playoff committee's rankings. Of course, he is noting how the committee dropped the Bulldogs to No. 12 for losing to Ole Miss, while keeping a team like, say, Miami inside the rankings even after the Hurricanes lost to an unranked Georgia Tech team.
“The committee has had some questions about the consistency of our team. I have some questions about the consistency of their rankings.”
UGA AD Josh Brooks asked about the CFP rankings on the @finebaum show just now…
— Graham Coffey (@GrahamCoffeyDC) November 15, 2024
“The committee has had some questions about the consistency of our team. I have some questions about the consistency of their rankings.”
Of course, he's not mentioning that Miami still holds a better record (9-1) than Georgia and that the Bulldogs are the third-highest ranked team in the committee's poll with two losses. As a matter of fact, the only two teams that are ahead of Georgia in the rankings with two losses are Alabama and Ole Miss, two teams that beat the Bulldogs on the field.
One can argue that Georgia is the victim of a tough schedule. The Bulldogs have the No. 1 strength of schedule in the country. It's also fair to point out that both of those losses came on the road, and that Georgia has wins over Texas and Clemson.
However, you can't just ignore the losses.
If you don't want to drop in the rankings, don't lose by three touchdowns to Ole Miss. Let's also not forget that Georgia struggled with Kentucky earlier this season.
Though the Bulldogs absolutely have CFP talent, they've also shown inconsistencies. Carson Beck looks nothing like the guy we saw last year. The defense looks elite at times, and then they'll struggle mightily against passing attacks.
There are plenty of reasons to believe that Georgia is good enough to still compete for a national title, but it might be worth pumping the brakes on blasting the College Football Playoff committee for one slight when you just got beat by 18 points.
If Georgia beats Tennessee this Saturday evening — a game in Athens that they are favored to win by double-digits — they'll move right back into the playoff field. However, if they don't, some of that talking done by Smart and Brooks this week is going to look a little laughable from the eyes of college football fans outside of Athens.
Georgia has made its case this week in interviews and press conferences. Now it's time to go and back it up on the field. Smart may very well be the best coach in the country and he'll have the Bulldogs ready for this one. He wouldn't be making sweeping statements like that if he wasn't confident coming into the game, so we expect to see the best from Georgia on Saturday night.
It just better be enough to back up the chatter, because college football fans around the country will be keeping receipts if not.