No. 12 Georgia states case to CFP committee, best no. 7 volumes

ATHENS, Ga. – Georgia coach Kirby Smart would not say whether being ranked No. 12 by the College Football Playoff selection committee motivated the Bulldogs to prove a point in Saturday night’s game against No. 7 Tennessee.

After last week’s ugly 28-10 loss at Ole Miss, their second loss of the season, the Bulldogs would be the first team left out of the playoffs if the 12-team bracket was based on the current rankings. No. 13 Boise State would get an automatic bid as the fifth-highest ranked conference champion and would leapfrog them.

That’s probably not the case anymore after Georgia manhandled Tennessee 31-17 at Sanford Stadium.

“I don’t know what they’re looking for. I really don’t,” Smart said of the CFP selection committee. “I wish they could really 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 and look at them. You can’t see that stuff on TV, and so I don’t know what they’re looking for, but that’s up to someone else to decide.

For the first time in a while, Georgia looked pretty good on both sides of the ball against Tennessee. The Bulldogs fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter, but came back to tie the game at 17 at the half. Tennessee had just eight first downs and didn’t score in the final 30 minutes. It was the ninth time a Josh Heupel-coached team has scored fewer than 20 points — four of which came against Georgia.

The Bulldogs won their 29th straight game at home and defeated Tennessee for the eighth straight time, all by double digits.

“Our kids showed resilience,” Smart said. “I’m proud of them. Look, it was a week ago, a few hours ago, that we were dead and gone. People had written us off. It’s hard to play in this league, week in and week out, on way.”

After the Ole Miss loss, Georgia dropped from third to 12th in the CFP rankings. Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, the chairman of the CFP selection committee, said the Bulldogs’ inconsistent offense and turnovers were one reason why.

“They’re not in that environment,” Smart said. “They’re not at Ole Miss in that environment, playing against that defense that’s top five in the country with one of the best pass rushers in the country, and they’re fired up. They got a two-score lead and they comes every time, they don’t know it.

Georgia has played the toughest schedule in the FBS, according to ESPN’s College Football Power Index, and has the third-best record, reflecting whether an average Top 25 team would have a team’s record or better against its schedule.

The Bulldogs also lost 41-34 at Alabama on Sept. 28 after trailing 28-0 in the first half. They defeated Clemson 34-3 in their opener and won 30-15 at Texas on October 19.

Adding a dominant win over Tennessee should only help Georgia’s CFP chances. It concludes the regular season with two non-SEC games at home, against UMass on Saturday and rival Georgia Tech on Nov. 29.

“It’s just the story of every week and we’re trying to be the cumulative, whole team of really good quality and not be on this emotional rollercoaster that’s run by people in a room somewhere who maybe don’t understand football like we do as coaches,” Smart said. “We as coaches look at people and say, ‘What can we do better? How can we get better?’ I respect their decision, but I think it’s different in our league.

One of the big reasons for Georgia’s success against Tennessee was quarterback Carson Beck, who completed 25 of 40 passes for 347 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He had thrown 12 interceptions in the previous five games.

Beck also scored on a 10-yard run that gave Georgia a 24-17 lead with 5:32 left in the third quarter.

“I didn’t really feel any pressure, to be honest,” Beck said. “I got up in front of the team on Monday and talked to them about how I felt about how our season has gone. I told them that whatever happened happened and all we can control is , what we can control going forward.”

Georgia’s offensive line didn’t allow a sack, while the Bulldogs sacked Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava five times. Georgia had 453 yards and went 5-for-5 in the red zone.

“I think everybody understood the situation we were in,” Beck said. “When our backs are against the wall, the only way out is through what’s in front of you.”