ATHENS — This past Saturday was like the parting of the Red Sea for the Georgia Bulldogs as far as returning to the College Football Playoff.
Not only did Georgia dominate the perceived No. 1 team in the country in Tennessee 27-13 at Sanford Stadium, but the Vols also were among three of the top six teams in the CFP rankings that lost last weekend. The others were No. 4 Clemson and No. 6 Alabama.
Accordingly, Georgia commanded 62 of the available 63 first-place votes in Sunday’s Associated Press poll. That’s a strong indication the Bulldogs will move into the top spot for the second CFP rankings of the season, which will be released Tuesday night.
The Crimson Tide’s 32-31 overtime loss to No. 10 LSU makes it likely the Bulldogs (9-0, 6-0 SEC) will meet the two-loss Tigers (7-2, 5-1) in the SEC Championship game on Dec. 3. Of course, that’s assuming a lot, and the defending national champion Bulldogs are not interested in discussing assumptions.
Their attention is 100% focused on Mississippi State and Saturday night’s matchup in noisy Starkville, Miss.
“We just don’t talk about it much,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said of the rankings and the tasks ahead. “I mean, they understand it’s wasted energy when you talk about it. … You just focus (on) Mississippi State and what we have to do to play well against them. What do we have to do to play well on the road in the SEC? Those are the focus.”
The SEC West Bulldogs (6-3, 3-3) narrowly escaped Auburn’s upset bid 39-33 in overtime last weekend in Starkville. But one can bet State’s cowbell-wielding crowd will be louder than ever hosting what it anticipated to be the nation’s consensus No. 1 team.
Their matchup comes just a week after witnessing how Georgia rendered Tennessee helpless thanks to its own deafening din at Sanford Stadium. According to UGA’s noise meter on its videoboard, Bulldogs fans went over 131 decibels with their crowd noise Saturday. That contributed to the Vols’ six false-start penalties and maybe had an effect on Georgia’s six quarterback sacks.
Mississippi State surely took note. With a capacity of 61,337, Davis Wade Stadium is the third smallest in the SEC, but it’s considered one of the loudest venues in the league to play. That’s thanks to the school’s tradition of clanging cowbells between snaps.
“They’re a great team, and playing there is definitely not going to be easy,” Georgia flanker Ladd McConkey said. “Crowd noise is going to a factor, and that’s something we’re going to work on this week. We’re just going to go in with the same mindset we do every week no matter who we’re playing.”
Since the beginning of the season, Game 10 always has been labeled as a potential trap game for Georgia. It comes between Tennessee – which was higher-ranked and considerably more hyped than expected – and Georgia’s end-of-SEC-slate trip to Lexington to face Kentucky. The Wildcats were picked second in the SEC East and considered the team most likely to challenge the Bulldogs in the division. Tickets for that game at Kentucky’s Kroger Field have been among the toughest of the season for Georgia fans to obtain.
Now both teams stand between Georgia and the chance to play in the SEC Championship game for the fifth time in the last six seasons as Eastern Division champion.
Letdowns, Smart said, should not even be a consideration.
“No matter who you play, you have a process,” Smart said. “We’re not going to do anything different today than when we played Vandy, Auburn, Kent State, Missouri or anybody else. Because when you treat it differently, you make it different. So, that’s not what this program was built on. We do it week to week, and we worry about the opponent that week.”
Meanwhile, coach Mike Leach’s teams at Mississippi State – and everywhere else he has been – are problematic on their own. His teams are notoriously enigmatic and prone to score at least an upset or two every season.
Like Tennessee last week, the State offense is unique. Led by third-year starter Will Rogers at quarterback, the Maroons typically throw the ball all over the yard in Leach’s version of the Air Raid attack. They’re second only to Tennessee (335.8) in passing yards per game (325.6). But as soon as defenses place an emphasis on stopping that, State loves to counter with a physical rushing attack.
They also operate decidedly different on defense and are surprisingly efficient against passing teams. They’ve allowed only 10 passing TDs and have nine interceptions. Mississippi State is holding opponents to a 56.95 completion percentage.
State gave Georgia all it could handle its first season under Leach when it came to Athens and left on the lower end of a 31-24 final score.
“People have the wrong demeanor when they go to play this team,” Smart said. “They think, ‘Oh, man, I’m going to go out here and pass rush and get all these sacks.’ They’re not going to let you do that. No. 1, they (pass-protect) really well; No. 2, they run-scheme really well, and they’ve got good backs. So, it’s not going to be a deal where it’s all about secondary.”
Georgia’s secondary played exceptionally well last Saturday, limiting the high-flying Vols to only one pass completion of more than 20 yards, no touchdowns and 195 total yards through the air.
The Bulldogs know that will mean nothing this week, but their confidence is high.
“It’s a pretty good feeling,” said sophomore cornerback Kelee Ringo, who intercepted a Hendon Hooker deep ball for Cedric Tillman. “You’ve got to play good defense against any team, especially one of the top-rated teams in the country. So, we’re just going to continue to work on the little things, study their tendencies and stick to the game plan, and the rest will take care of itself.”
Having taken care of things last weekend, the road back to the playoffs looks wide and smooth for the Bulldogs. They opened as 17.5-point favorites against Mississippi State on Sunday, and the line has hovered between there and 16.5 points ever since, according to VegasInsider.com. Georgia likely will also be a two-score favorite against Kentucky, then something well beyond that in the season finale against Georgia Tech at home on Nov. 26.
Meanwhile, the Vols (8-1, 4-1) fell to No. 5 in the opinion polls and are expected to land in a similar spot in Tuesday’s new CFP rankings. That means the door to making their first playoff appearance has not been closed. With its only loss to date expected to be the new No. 1 team, Tennessee very likely would be considered the best one-loss team available should one need to be included in the final four that comes out Dec. 4.
No. 2 Ohio State still got one first-place AP vote Sunday after its narrow 21-7 escape from a 1-7 Northwestern team. Regardless of what the CFP selection committee thinks, the Buckeyes and No. 5 Michigan, which is also undefeated, eventually will settle their arguments on the field as Georgia and Tennessee did.
Meanwhile, TCU (9-0) continues to be the fly in the committee’s ointment. Unless the Horned Frogs get knocked off Saturday at Texas or the next week at Baylor, they’ll have to debate the merits of their undefeated record versus the highest-ranked one-loss teams.
Right now, those teams are expected to be Tennessee and Oregon. Georgia beat them by the aggregate score of 76-16. So, even a loss in the SEC Championship game should keep the Bulldogs in the top four.
But, as Georgia knows better than anybody, it has to get there first.
“Everybody sees it,” McConkey said of rankings debates. “Good or bad, you’re going to see it either way. It’s something they tell us to not focus on. We enjoyed the win Saturday night but, once Sunday rolls around, we’re flipping the switch and focusing on this week.”
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