For the fourth year running, yours truly is picking Georgia to win the national championship. Even I – Bark Madly to non-UGA fans – concede that such a run might seem excessive, but it’s not as if I’ve been way wrong. The Bulldogs have won 66.7 percent of the past three titles, meaning I’m batting .667.
Georgia over the past three seasons: 42-2. Georgia in regular-season games: 36-0. Georgia in regular-season conference games: 24-0. Georgia in playoff/bowl games: 5-0. Georgia against opponents other than Alabama: 41-0. I mean, come on.
The only place where the Bulldogs have stumbled is in SEC title games played in the state of Georgia against teams coached by the greatest ever. The first time that happened, they were granted a second chance at Bama. They weren’t so lucky last season, which really was lousy luck.
The GOAT’s final collegiate victory coincided with the last year of the four-team playoff. Now we’re into the post-Saban-expanded-tournament era. Had the event included 12 teams all along, Georgia would have made it each of the past seven years.
Another prediction: So long as Kirby Smart keeps coaching the Bulldogs, they won’t miss another College Football Playoff. They’re 86-11 over the past seven years. Five of the losses were against Guess Who. Some folks might suggest that more qualifiers will mean March Madness-like upsets. The belief here is that the 12-team field will only make it easier for Smart and Co. to win it all.
Do I see Georgia going undefeated this season? Actually, no. The Bulldogs play at Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss. I figure they’ll lose the one in Austin. Those three opponents rank among the top six in the preseason coaches’ poll. Georgia, however, is ranked No. 1.
I figure Georgia goes 11-1 and wins a Texas rematch for the SEC title. I won’t bother picking a 12-team playoff field – life’s too short – but I will say it’ll be Big Ten champ Oregon versus UGA for the national championship, and yes, simply saying “Big Ten champ Oregon” says it all re: College Football 2024.
As for Georgia Tech: Call me crazy, but I see good things happening for the Yellow Jackets. Heck, I see them upsetting Florida State.
(Here we pause for you to scream, “That’s not crazy – that’s IMBECILIC!”)
(Done with the screaming? Good. We move ahead.)
Yes, I believe FSU was mistreated by the CFP. I also believe it will take a while for the Seminoles to get over what happened on Selection Sunday and what then happened in the Orange Bowl, which saw their third-stringers lose to Georgia by 60.
Tech plays FSU in Dublin, and not the Dublin in Georgia or Ohio. This game will be staged in the auld – Irish for “old” – Dublin, which is an ocean away. Preseason consensus holds that the Jackets are a pretty good team with a really bad schedule, but what if some big names on that schedule aren’t as big as advertised?
Tech is coming off a season that could have been much worse – the Jackets mounted epic comebacks versus ranked opponents Miami and North Carolina, each of which was complicit in its collapse – but also much better. Flip home losses to Bowling Green and Boston College and 7-6 becomes 9-4. Whoa, Nellie.
Brent Key has done well to move beyond the #404Takeover. In Haynes King, Tech has a real quarterback. If Tech plays any defense at all, good things could happen. Come Aug. 24, the world will watch to see how FSU comes off its difficult winter. The world will see the season’s first upset.
I’m not sure how high Tech’s ceiling is; I’m also not sure how good the rest of the ACC will be. Should the Jackets start 1-0 – and not fall to 1-1 by losing to Georgia State – I can indeed see them winning nine games. Maybe that really is imbecilic, but it’s not like I’m picking Tech to beat Georgia.
Though, come to think of it, Tech did give Georgia a game last season. Hmm.
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