ATLANTA — Georgia coach Kirby Smart said he spent time over the past year surveying other coaches about how best to approach the 12-team College Football Playoff.
A year ago, Ohio State missed its conference championship game, as Georgia could do this year, too, should both Texas A&M and Alabama finish Week 14 with wins. But the Buckeyes got hot and won a national title.
Meanwhile, the four conference champions who all earned first-round byes last season struggled mightily in their first playoff games, with all four top seeds losing.
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But that doesn’t mean Smart is sold on following that logic for this year’s playoff.
“The sweet spot is to win,” Smart said when asked how he hoped the next few weeks would shake out for the Bulldogs. “There is no right decision. … At the end of the day, you have to do what you feel best about. You’ll always second-guess it if you lose and you won’t if you win.”
Georgia’s place in the playoff is all but assured. It’s path between Friday’s ugly 16-9 win over Georgia Tech and whatever game kicks off the Dawgs’ quest for a national championship is frustratingly up in the air.
Georgia, 11-1 overall, finished SEC play 7-1, but its regular-season loss to Alabama means the Dawgs need either a loss by the Tide in the Iron Bowl on Saturday or a loss by Texas A&M on Friday to Texas to clinch an SEC title game berth.
Given Ohio State’s success without playing in last year’s Big Ten title game, taking next week off might be a preferential option for some coaches, who would prefer to see their team get healthy and avoid added injury risk from an extra game. Not Smart, who has won three SEC titles, including last year.
“You live your life scared of injuries, you know what you get? A very scared team,” Smart said. “It’s also an opportunity to win an SEC championship. Does that matter? Does anybody care about that anymore? I grew up thinking that was the greatest game in the world. I’m just different from everybody else. … That’s what’s wrong with this whole thing now. What if you get hurt? It’s football. It’s all part of it.”
At least some of Georgia’s offensive struggles Friday were a result of injuries. Center Drew Bobo left the game early, and his absence seemed to limit the Bulldogs’ passing attack. Smart didn’t put the blame on Bobo’s departure but did note that QB Gunner Stockton needed to respond better.
Stockton finished 11-of-21 passing for just 70 yards — the lowest passing output for a Georgia team since 2019. Stockton’s early pick set up a Georgia Tech field goal, and his downfield shots were all off the mark.
“It wasn’t great,” Smart said of the passing game. “There was some drop eight in there, there was some pressure he took on, some batted balls. He’s got to do what he’s coached to do. That’s the toughest thing. … There were a couple plays that were out there we didn’t make. He’ll watch the tape and grow from it and get better, and so will the rest of the team.”
Another question facing Georgia is if this will be the last game the Bulldogs put on tape before the College Football Playoff committee releases its final rankings.
At the moment, Georgia has a top-four seed — and a first-round bye — secured. But if the Dawgs miss the SEC championship game and Texas Tech wins the Big 12 championship, there’s certainly room for the committee to make adjustments.
“Not for me to decide,” Smart said. “I’m not here to lobby. There’s folks who make that decision. Our job is to respond to it.”
Georgia’s players weren’t exactly lobbying for anything either, and when it comes to playing next week, the feeling was a bit more muted. The question of whether Georgia players would prefer some time off elicited a pregnant pause from the four starters at the dais after Friday’s win before Stockton finally spoke up.
“We’ll just be ready to play,” he said, “whenever we’re [scheduled].”
