ATHENS — Despite enjoying the atmosphere and battle testing a strong opponent provides, Kirby Smart now faces the repercussions of that in a time when Georgia’s strength of schedule doesn’t seem to be being rewarded.
Will Georgia continue to play in big nonconference games like Clemson, or should the Bulldogs settle for more foes like UMass, which Georgia paid $1.9 million to play this weekend, according to the Athens Banner-Herald.
Smart knows Georgia fans are more excited about games like its 2024 season opener against Clemson, but the potential for missing the playoffs because of a loss may not be best for the program.
“The happiness of our fans. That’s the incentive, right?” Smart said this week. “Because fans want you to be in the playoffs, but they sure don’t want you to play cupcakes. They want you to go play quality opponents. … I mean, going to schedule a great team and going to play somebody in a neutral-site game — a kickoff classic — I love all that stuff. So I want to do as much of that as I can. But I don’t know. We’ll see where all this stuff goes.”
Per ESPN’s strength of schedule metric, Georgia has the most difficult schedule in the country, having played five teams currently ranked in the top 20 of the latest College Football Playoff rankings,. UGA went 3-2 in those games, and those two losses have Georgia sitting No. 10 in the playoff rankings.
Indiana (10-0) is No. 106 in strength of schedule and is No. 5 in this week’s playoff rankings. Indiana will face a step up in competition this weekend as it takes on Ohio State, the No. 2 team in the playoff rankings. Should the Hoosiers lose — they are a 12-point underdog — it will be worth following how the committee slots them.
Consider that Georgia dropped from No. 3 to No. 12 in the playoff rankings after its Nov. 9 loss to Ole Miss, which is currently No. 9 in the playoff rankings.
While Georgia has two losses on the season, it also has more wins (three) over teams in the current top 25 of the College Football Playoff rankings than No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Penn State and No. 5 Indiana have combined (two).
Smart has taken note of what the committee seems to prioritize in making the rankings.
“I think they value wins and losses,” Smart said. “And so they place people based on a column — a column of wins and a column of losses — not on the eye test of going to watch them play and see them and see who they played. … I don’t think they say, well, this is better than that. They just say this record’s better than that. That’s the most simple way to do it. It’s not necessarily the 12 best. So we’ll see what happens. I’m not worried about it much. I’ve got to worry about our team and what we (have) going on.”
Georgia still has marquee nonconference games scheduled in the future, including home-and-home series against Louisville, Clemson, Ohio State and Florida State. There is also the annual matchup against Georgia Tech, a team that seems to be trending in a positive direction under Brent Key.
But in 2025, Tech is Georgia’s only Power Four nonconference opponent after UCLA and Georgia decided to cancel their previously scheduled series. Georgia will instead play Marshall, along with Charlotte and Austin Peay.
Based on what the committee has done this year, playing teams that aren’t expected to help UGA’s strength of schedule in 2025 shouldn’t be a problem for Georgia —
provided they win, of course.
“They need to really decide what (the committee wants), though, and that’s the frustrating thing because it’s record-based, or it’s, you know, quality of opponents,” Smart said. “It’s hard to say that you shouldn’t have a strength of schedule factor in there.”
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