Kirby Smart rips CFP committee after Georgia’s 31-17 thrashing of Tennessee: ‘I don’t know what they’re looking for’

ATHENS, Ga. — Kirby Smart likes the College Football Playoff, but it’s safe to say he’s not a fan of the College Football Playoff committee. On two separate occasions after Saturday’s decisive 31-17 win over Tennessee, Smart took a moment to challenge the committee’s decision-making and question its football sense.

“I don’t know what they’re looking for. I really don’t,” said Smart, whose team was ranked No. 12 but effectively locked out of the playoffs after last week’s loss to Ole Miss. “I wish they really could define the criteria. I wish they could do the eyeball test where they come down here and look at the people we’re playing against. You can’t see that thing on a TV.”

What the committee would have seen had they been in Sanford Stadium — and what the 93,033 in the stands saw live — was a Georgia team capable of healing itself on the fly, both midseason and midgame. If Wolverine wasn’t already aligned with another university, the Dawgs could claim him as an avatar.

“They’re not in that (in-game) environment,” Smart said at a press conference under the stands as wild Georgia fans celebrated outside. “They’re not at Ole Miss in that environment, playing against that defense that’s top five in the country. … They don’t know, they don’t understand.”

“Their offense hasn’t been consistent, the committee discussed it, they’ve struggled with some turnovers,” CFP chairman Warde Manuel said last Tuesday when announcing the latest rankings. “The defense has been solid, although in the loss to Ole Miss we felt that (inconsistent offense) plays a factor … with the offense struggling, their defense was on the field quite a bit.”

That’s how you can’t throw out red meat and expect Smart not to snap at it. “They’re probably going to look at this week and say we just played one of the best defenses in the country and we put up 453 (yards of offense) and could have been more,” he said. “It’s just the narrative of every week and we try to be the cumulative, whole team of good quality and not be on this emotional rollercoaster that’s managed by people in a room somewhere who maybe don’t understand football like we do as coaches . . .

Whew. Do you have all that? The thing is, Smart has every reason to be sore — and every reason to believe his team is absolutely one of the best in the country, regardless of what arbitrary week-to-week rankings say. Georgia stifled Tennessee, held the Vols scoreless in the second half and contained the Vols in a way no other team has managed this year.

Assuming no more issues, two losses and their current paths should be enough for both Georgia and Tennessee to make the playoffs. Both teams are 8-2 overall, but the Bulldogs finish SEC play at 6-2, while UT falls to 5-2 in the league with a game at Vanderbilt remaining.

The Georgia-Tennessee rivalry might not have the juice of, say, Georgia-Auburn or Tennessee-Alabama, but it’s quickly becoming a matchup of heavyweights. Four of the last five games have had both teams ranked in the top 20, and Saturday night was in many ways a play-off play-in. At stake: a potential SEC championship berth for Tennessee, a likely playoff berth for Georgia.

Early on, Georgia kicker Brett Thorson — the only Bulldog to come out of the gate strong — inadvertently set the early mood for Georgia in the first half. The Dawgs had gone three-and-out on their opening drive, Thorson batted the ball away and a Tennessee player tackled him to the ground. The flag flew and Thorson lay on his back, rejoicing, anticipating a roughing-the-pointer call that would give Georgia another set of downs.

It wasn’t supposed to be. The officials took the flags and ruled that the Tennessee player had been blocked into Thorson. And Tennessee would go on to score a touchdown on its ensuing drive to take a 7-0 lead.

It was a pretty stark message: If Georgia wanted a win over an initially skittish Vols team Saturday night, the Dawgs had to earn it.

The status of each team’s starting quarterback dominated pregame talk. Would Nico Iamaleava be available after undergoing a reported concussion protocol? Would Carson Beck continue his slide from Heisman Trophy candidacy to interception-slinging irrelevance?

The first half answered both questions quite effectively. Iamaleava got the start and led the Vols on touchdown drives of 78 and 75 yards, with a field goal in between. Beck, meanwhile, came out firing and threw 29 passes in the first half. Sure, many of those passes flew high or wide, but it’s better than in the hands of the enemy, right? Beck connected with tight end Oscar Delp — aka Brock Bowers 2.0 — for two touchdowns and drove the Dawgs to a late first-half field goal.

Halfway home, the game was tied at 17, with no clear edge for either side.

Georgia struck first in the second half, with a very un-Carson Beck-like drive from Beck that consumed 7:22 and covered 87 yards over 12 plays. Beck, who has spent the past few weeks as the target of Georgia fans’ ire, appeared as composed and centered as he has all season on the drive, finding open men, avoiding the Tennessee rush and guiding Georgia with a confident, he had not shown. for weeks. He took the ball into the end zone himself on the last play of the drive and scampered 10 yards to put Georgia ahead 24-17.

Tennessee’s offense, so reliable in the first half, sputtered and faltered in the second, scoring on three consecutive possessions. After a 2-yard touchdown run by Nate Frazier gave the Bulldogs a 31-17 lead, Tennessee took over with 2:26 left in regulation, but turned it over on downs with an Iamaleava fumble. The Vols’ offense was held lifeless for the final 30 minutes.

The final line on Beck: 347 yards on 25-of-40 attempts, with two touchdowns, plus 32 yards and a touchdown on the ground. After a week where the outside world ripped Beck and the Georgia offense, it was sweet redemption.

“Those guys, they took a lot of criticism from people and it was really unwarranted, in my opinion,” Smart said.” the (SEC) environment.”

It’s a theme Smart has hit repeatedly this year: The SEC is a melting pot. Every week is a battle. Losses here are not the same as losses elsewhere. It’s PR spin, sure, but it also has the ring of truth, especially when you see what a team like Georgia is capable of when everything is humming.

Georgia will rise in the next set of CFP rankings, but probably not high enough for Smart’s liking. Unless and until the committee comes and sees him play in person, he will hold on to that grudge.

“I respect their decision. respect their opinion. But I mean, it’s different in our league,” Smart said, then added a little twist. “So … go Dawgs.”

And with that he was gone, he stated.