ATHENS – Kirby Smart could only shrug.
A week after seeing his team plummet nine spots in the second College Football Playoff rankings following 28-10 loss to Ole Miss on the road the No. 12 Georgia Bulldogs responded with a decisive 31-17 victory over No. 7 Tennessee at Sanford Stadium.
Asked in the postgame press conference where that ought to put the Bulldogs in the next rankings when they are released Tuesday night, Smart said he didn’t have a clue because “I don’t know what they’re looking for.”
“I really don’t,” Smart said of his team being dropped nine places last week. “I wish they would define their criteria.”
Smart suggested that the selection committee might want to get out and attend some of these games in person. The 13-person committee charged with ranking the nation’s Top 25 teams holes up in a 5-star resort in Grapevine, Texas, to watch games together and deliberate over their relative strengths and witnesses.
If they bothered to attend any of Georgia’s games this season, they might have a better idea about which the Bulldogs have been dealing. All 10 of Georgia’s games this season have been played before sellout crowds with incredibly intense atmospheres. Saturday’s game was the Bulldogs’ first in 35 days at home. Meanwhile, those road environments they’ve encountered at No. 3 Texas, No. 10 Alabama, No. 11 Ole Miss and even against Kentucky in Lexington and Florida in Jacksonville have resulted in capacity crowds revved up over the prospect of knocking off a team that entered the year having not lost a regular-season game in three seasons.
Georgia has dropped two this season. One of those saw them lose a lead against Alabama in the final 3 minutes and the other one resulted in the Rebels’ fans storming the field and tearing down both goal posts.
Consider this: The Bulldogs’ games this season have been played before a total of 862,347, or an average of 86,235 per contest. Only four of those games were played at home. The other six all resulted in an attendance record being set at the respective venues.
“I wish (the selection committee) could do the eyeball test and just come down here and look at the people we’re playing against and these environments,” Smart said Saturday. “You can’t see that stuff on TV. But that’s for somebody else to decide. I’m just worried about our team.”
With Saturday’s victory, everything remains in Georgia’s grasp. Here are five things we learned heading into Week 13 of the season:
CFP sets up favorably
After being designated the dreaded “first team out” in last week’s rankings, the Bulldogs should move up enough this week to assure their inclusion in the 12-team playoff. That is, of course, provided that they win their final two games against UMass on Saturday and Georgia Tech on Nov. 19.
The third reveal of the 2024 CFP rankings will be conducted at 7 p.m. on Tuesday and once again will be televised on ESPN. This time it will be a full hour-long show. Last week’s was a condensed 20-minute version conducted between basketball games.
In addition to Georgia knocking off No. 7 Tennessee ahead of it, No. 6 BYU fell to Kansas 17-13 on Saturday. With the rest of the Top 12 teams winning and No. 5 Indiana, No. 9 Miami and No. 11 Ole Miss all idle, the Bulldogs should move up at least to No. 10.
That’s providing the committee doesn’t do some recalculating. The coaches’ poll already did, moving Georgia ahead of the Rebels just eight days after they beat the Bulldogs by three scores in Oxford.
There eventually should be more room to move up provided Georgia handles UMass and Georgia Tech:
- No. 1 Oregon has games remaining at home vs. Washington and the Big Ten championship;
- No. 2 Ohio State and No. 5 Indiana meet this Saturday in Columbus then face rivalry opponents in Week 14;
- No. 4 Penn State will be heavily favored Minnesota and Purdue but might still have the Big Ten championship game to navigate;
- No. 8 Notre Dame takes on undefeated and No. 24-ranked Army Saturday in New York City and still has a Nov. 30 trip to Southern Cal to survive.
Within the SEC, No. 10 Alabama has only Kentucky and Auburn to get past, then possibly the SEC Championship game. And No. 11-ranked Ole Miss’s trip to Florida this coming Saturday suddenly looks more ominous. The Gators whipped No. 22 LSU 27-16 in Gainesville on Saturday. The Rebels finish at home against Mississippi State on Nov. 29.
Smart’s worried only about what’s in front of the Bulldogs.
“We’ve still got two games left against tough teams,” he said. “Georgia Tech’s been a great team, and UMass has played three or four SEC teams already.”
The Minutemen (2-8) lost to Missouri (45-3) and Mississippi State (45-20) earlier this year. They fell to Liberty -- the best team in their league -- 35-34 in overtime on Saturday.
Dillon Bell’s long-term status uncertain
Georgia lost a running and wide receiver to injury Saturday night. In this case, though, they were the same player.
Dillon Bell, who played both those positions for the Bulldogs against Tennessee, went down with a leg injury with 6:49 remaining in the second quarter after running a jet sweep around right end for a gain of five yards and nearly scoring after being knocked out of bounds near the goal-line pylon. After the play, Bell hopped all the way across the end zone to the Georgia sideline. He did not return due to what might have been a high-ankle sprain.
“I don’t know how severe it will be or how long it will be,” Smart said. “I mean, look, there’s a bunch of injuries.”
It ended what already had been a busy night for Bell. While the 6-foot-1, 210-pound junior finished with just two yards rushing and 12 yards on two receptions, he was targeted a team-high 7 times in only 1½ quarters of play. He is Georgia’s third-leading receiver with 35 receptions for 405 yards and 4 touchdowns.
It was another blow for an offense that has absorbed a bunch of them from an injury standpoint. The Bulldogs played Saturday’s game without starting left tackle Earnest Greene III (shoulder), right guard Micah Morris (leg) and starting running back Trevor Etienne (ribs). Running backs Branson Robinson (knee) and Roderick Robinson (toe) also have been sidelined most of the season.
On Saturday, freshman Nate Frazier got his first start at running back and sophomore Monroe Freeling made his first start at left tackle. The Bulldogs played the entire game with the same five offensive linemen for the first time this season. That included right guard Tate Ratledge, who served as captain and played every snap 8 weeks after undergoing TightRope surgery.
Mondon back in action
One player Georgia was especially happy to have back on the field was linebacker Smael Mondon. An All-SEC middle linebacker, the 6-3, 230-pound senior was finally able to play a full game Saturday. Mondon missed four games with a foot injury before returning to play 15 snaps against Ole Miss in Game 9. In Game 10 Saturday, Mondon led the Bulldogs with 8 tackles and added a quarterback sack and pass break-up.
“His confidence, ability to make plays and tackles, his instincts are huge,” Smart said. “We’ve been getting good reports on his foot. He’s had two or three X-rays that looked like it’s healed. So, that’s great news for him.”
It’s great news for the Bulldogs as well. With Mondon back in the middle alongside CJ Allen and Raylen Wilson, defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann is able to play Jalon Walker outside more. On the field much of the time with Mondon, Walker also had a sack to go along with 8 tackles.
Defensive end Mykel Williams, who has battled an ankle injury all season, also had to leave the game early in the third quarter. Williams would return but played sparingly the rest of the way.
Outside linebacker Chaz Chambliss added two more sacks Saturday, which gives him 5.5 on the season and ties him with Walker for the team lead.
Beck bounces back
Quarterback Carson Beck went 25-for-40 passing for 347 yards and two touchdowns in the game. More importantly, he broke the streak of six straight games in which he committed a turnover. The redshirt senior from Jacksonville came in having thrown 12 interceptions and lost two fumbles.
“He gets judged on outcomes and stats (externally),” Smart said of his quarterback. “But we don’t judge based on that. We judge internally, based on what gives us the best chance to win.”
The Bulldogs entered the game with the plan for Beck to run the ball more. Injuries had whittled the Bulldogs down to three running backs, including a barely-used freshman in Chauncey Bowens and a gimpy walk-on in Cash Jones, who was fighting through an ankle injury.
Beck answered the call with 32 yards on three carries, including a 10-yard touchdown scamper.
Beck joked afterward that people forget he was considered a “dual-threat quarterback” coming out of high school.
Smart retorted.
“Dual is a stretch. More like 75-25.”
Kidding aside, Smart said Beck “manned up.”
Tight ends show off
For the first time since Brock Bowers bid adieu to Athens, tight ends were the featured act for Georgia’s offense.
Led by Oscar Delp’s two touchdown catches and 56 yards on four receptions, tight ends accounted for 40% of Carson Beck’s completions on Saturday and 37% of the Bulldogs’ pass production.
Ben Yurosek also had 5 catches for 51 yards, Delp had 4 receptions and Lawson Luckie had one for 23 yards and almost had another one that would have gone for big yardage if not for an exceptional defensive play.
Smart credited offensive coordinator Mike Bobo for featuring the position in Saturday’s game plan.
“I thought Mike did a great job with the tight end passing game,” Smart said. “Ben made some plays. Lawson had the play that probably would have been a huge play. The corner came off his man and makes a breakup. … Oscar could have had a bigger night too with the throw over the middle where he got popped and the ball came out. But proud of those tight ends, man. They haven’t had the year they wanted to have, but they had a really big night tonight.”
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