Georgia offense leads two Top 25 voters to drop UGA lower on ballot

What’s in a number?

The answer is “plenty” when it comes to preseason rankings, as they invariably set expectations for the upcoming college football season.

Ohio State is on the poll position (pun intended) at No. 1 in the AP preseason Top 25 for the ninth time in program history and the first time since 2015, when Urban Meyer was prowling the Buckeyes’ sideline.

The Buckeyes received 40 of a possible 69 first-place votes, outpacing No. 2 Oregon, which received 14 first-place votes, and ahead of Georgia, which will begin the season ranked No. 3 despite not getting any first-place votes.

Kirby’s world

Ian Kress of WLNS-TV in Lansing, Michigan, was one of seven AP voters (of 69) to have the Bulldogs at No. 2 in the rankings, a spot behind his No. 1 team, Ohio State.

“You can never count out Kirby Smart, he’s an excellent coach, so you have to give them a boost,” Kress told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “They also return Gunner Stockton, and returning quarterbacks are a nice boost for teams, too.

“But Ohio State returned its quarterback, Julian Sayin, and top receiver Jeremiah Smith, so that’s why there were my No. 1.”

The Orlando Sentinel’s Matt Murschel explained to the AJC why he believes the Bulldogs are the top team in the SEC entering this season.

“It’s because Kirby Smart is an outstanding coach who has done an incredible job the last decade,” Murschel said. “Gunner Stockton has been there and done that, and continuity is a big piece of having success.

“I know that he hasn’t the same level of passing as Carson Beck, but he’s right there.”

The Buckeyes, however, got Murschel’s vote as the No. 1 team.

“I looked at Ohio State’s roster and schedule, and I think they have a leg up in my preseason poll,” said Murschel, a national college football writer. “I know Texas is up there, and people talking about Lane Kiffin at LSU, but I believe Georgia is still the team to beat in the SEC.”

High floor, low ceiling

Not everyone agrees Georgia should be so high, including Baton Rouge Advocate reporter Koki Riley, who is one of two voters to have Georgia ranked as low as No. 8.

“Georgia’s rank is less about floor and more about its ceiling, and that’s about what impact players you have,” said Riley, an Arizona State sports journalism graduate who has covered LSU for the past five seasons. “I look at Georgia’s pass rush and the playmakers on the outside at receiver.

“I didn’t see enough that Georgia did in the offseason to address those things.”

The Bulldogs added Auburn’s Amaris Williams in the transfer portal, but the pass rush specialist suffered a torn ACL in spring drills and is expected to miss the regular season.

Georgia added 6-foot-4 Georgia Tech receiver Isiah Canion through the portal after he recorded 33 catches for 480 yards and 4 touchdowns for the Yellow Jackets last season — more catches and yards than UGA’s leading returning receiver London Humphreys, who had 18 catches for 276 yards and 3 touchdowns last season.

It has been well-documented that Georgia lost six of its top seven pass catchers from a season ago, including single-season receptions recorded holder Zachariah Branch.

Riley has confidence Georgia will have what most would consider a successful season when one considers the FanDuel Sportsbook has the Bulldogs with an over/under win total of 9.5.

“Georgia is good enough to win 10 games, probably, but not necessarily to win a national championship,” Riley said. “Oregon, Texas and Ohio State, I think those teams have more talent.

“But I think Georgia has the highest floor of any team in the SEC, and I’d be surprised if they didn’t make the College Football Playoff.”

Riley explained to the AJC why he has LSU and Miami — Nos. 6 and 7 on his ballot — ranked ahead of Georgia.

“Miami has one of the best wide receivers in the country in Malachi Toney and a quarterback in Darian Mensah who has a higher range of possibility than Gunner Stockton,” Riley said.

“LSU, maybe I’m playing into their potential, but they brought in three of the 10 best players from a loaded portal class and have a coach (Kiffin) who has proven time and time again he can take talent out of the portal and make it work.”

Championship bubble

Javon Edmonds, a voter from the (Syracuse) Post-Standard, has Georgia No. 8 on his ballot but believes the Bulldogs can win the national championship.

“I have Georgia in a bubble of teams that can win the title, as long as Kirby is there,” Edmonds told the AJC. “It’s the same type of roster Georgia has had the last five or six years.”

Edmonds said Georgia’s rank on his ballot has more to do with other teams.

“I’m big on Miami, I’m big on Indiana coming back, I’m big on Ole Miss, big on LSU and I’m big on Notre Dame,” Edmonds said. “Texas has a helluva roster, Oregon, too, but I trust Kirby Smart more than I trust Steve Sarkisian or Dan Lanning.”

Edmonds said the reason other national title contenders are ranked ahead of Georgia has to do with their ability to score points.

“I trust their offensive firepower more than Georgia’s,” Edmonds said. “Georgia can turn it on at any time, where the defense suffocates you and Gunner Stockton gets hot, so Georgia is in the conversation among teams that can win the title.”

Edmonds said it’s hard to get an accurate gauge before any games are played, so he expects his vote and those of others will change.

“It’s a preseason poll, and we can all act like we know exactly what we’re talking about, but we really don’t,” Edmonds said. “I’d rather we didn’t put the poll out until everyone has played four games.”

Historical expectations

Georgia, of course, has history on its side when it comes to consistency.

The Bulldogs have not lost more than three games in Smart’s tenure since his first season at the helm (2016), and they are riding a streak of nine consecutive finishes within the top seven teams in the final AP Top 25 poll.

The Bulldogs also have been a preseason top-five fixture under Smart.

This season marks the ninth consecutive year UGA has opened ranked among the top five teams in the nation in the AP poll, which is made up of college football journalists from online, television, radio and newspaper media platforms.

Smart has brought unprecedented expectations to UGA history when one considers none of the 25 Georgia teams coached by College Football Hall of Famer Vince Dooley were ranked in the top five of the preseason AP poll.

Mark Richt weighs in

Mark Richt, another College Football Hall of Fame coach, had three of his 15 Georgia teams ranked in the top five of the AP Poll.

“I did the coaches poll most of the time I was at Georgia, and, there was nothing scientific about it, but I did my own poll,” Richt said. “As the season went on the order of teams became more obvious, but early in the season it’s more of a crapshoot.”