ATHENS -- There are few things in college football more meaningless than the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season. Mississippi State once occupied the top spot. Georgia was there in opening the rankings of 2017, only to lose, fall out and come back in.
Nevertheless, considerable fuss was being made again Tuesday night as the first CFP rankings of the 2023 season were unveiled. And certainly there will be a fragment of the fan base that will be outraged that their two-time defending national champion and still undefeated Bulldogs did not garner the top spot in the annual week 10 release this year. But Georgia was present and well-accounted for at No. 2.
No, it was the Ohio State Buckeyes, who the Bulldogs narrowly defeated in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl semifinals last year, who were anointed No. 1 on Tuesday. Those two teams were followed by No. 3 Michigan (8-0), No. 4 FSU (8-0), No. 5 Washington (8-0) and No. 6 Oregon (7-1) in the coveted top six.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if anybody was No. 1,” ESPN football analyst Kirk Herbstreit said. “I think the resumes speak for themselves, that’s why they put (Ohio State) up at one. I’m sure it was a great discussion about Georgia, two-time defending champ. But it’s all about 2023 and what’s happening this year. The great thing about this, at the end of the day, whether you’re 1, 2, 3 or 4, all these teams are going to control their own destiny because they’re all going to play each other.”
The rankings are voted on weekly by a 13-person panel that gathers each week outside Dallas to watch games and closely scrutinize all college football teams. They’ll analyze them on a series of data points and metrics, discuss it among themselves and then vote upon all that as well as their own gut instincts.
Georgia’s biggest chink, according to ESPN’s analysts who broke down the rankings after they were released, is its strength of schedule. Though Kentucky was ranked No. 20 at the time the Bulldogs beat them 51-13 in Athens on Oct. 7, Georgia doesn’t have any victories against teams that are currently ranked. Ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll for the last 20 weeks, the Bulldogs’ strength of schedule is rated 100th.
Conversely, the Buckeyes are considered to have the two best wins of all the undefeated and one-loss teams under consideration. Ohio State beat Notre Dame on the road and Penn State at home.
But Georgia’s slate is about to heat up considerably. That starts with Saturday’s home game against No. 12 Missouri (7-1, 3-1 SEC). The two after that are against No. 11 Ole Miss (7-1, 3-1) and No. 17 Tennessee (6-2, 4-1).
“Georgia has a gauntlet coming up,” said analyst Greg McIlroy. “Just look at what they have coming up this week with Missouri. Missouri’s real. ... They have a good quarterback and explosive playmakers. Then you’ve got Ole Miss and then a road trip to Tennessee. If they get through this gauntlet I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re sitting at No. 1 by the time they get to Georgia Tech.”
Kirby Smart said after Georgia’s 43-20 win over Florida Saturday he was aware the CFP rankings started this week. But he said other than the flood of texts that inevitably come to his phone after they’re released he pays absolutely no attention to them.
“You’ve got to win the games you play and take care of that,” Smart said. “The rest is out of our hands.”
Georgia’s players echo their coach’s sentiments.
“I had no idea that was coming out tonight,” sophomore linebacker Jalon Walker said after the Bulldogs wrapped up practice Tuesday night. “Our goal is to play Missouri. We’re going to prepare the rest of the week for Missouri, which is a significant part of our future. Then we’ll take care of business week to week.”
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