At 11-2, the SEC champion Georgia Bulldogs are College Football Playoff bound for the third time in four years. They will get a first-round bye as one of the four highest-ranked conference champions after beating Texas for the second time this year. Georgia went 4-2 this year against teams that will be ranked inside the top 16 in the final College Football Playoff rankings. Only one game was in Athens...
Yes, two were in the Dawgs' backyard of Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The first was a Week 1 drubbing of future ACC champion Clemson. The most recent was last night for the SEC championship vs. Texas. For its eight-game SEC slate, Georgia had to play Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ole Miss in Oxford and Texas in Austin, with only Tennessee coming to Sanford Stadium this year.
When being asked what getting a first-round bye means for this team, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said his team is excited about the rest that comes with it. Carson Beck, Gunner Stockton and Brett Thorson got hurt in this game. To have an extra week to rest and recover will do this team a world of good. The rest of the college football world does not care, but Smart is right in this remark.
No other playoff-bound team played a schedule like Georgia, so Smart criticized Greg Sankey for it.
This is incredible.
— Adam Spencer (@AdamSpencer4) December 8, 2024
As Kirby absolutely rips Greg Sankey for Georgia’s schedule, the cameraman pans over to Sankey’s priceless reaction 😂
Give that cameraman the Emmy pic.twitter.com/FA9ihBezDv
The good news for the Dawgs is Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas will all be at home next year for them.
Kirby Smart criticized Greg Sankey to his face for Georgia's brutal slate
For years, Georgia did take advantage of playing in the inferior SEC East. This helped them routinely win seven or eight games in league play every season. While doing away with divisions was the right thing to do across the board, it did create scheduling anomalies that may not have been appropriately accounted for. For example, Texas did not have to play hardly anyone of note this year.
Georgia was not the only team with a brutal schedule. Florida's was just as hard, as the Gators went a surprising 7-5 to carry a ton of momentum into next year. Again, not all schedules are created equally. For example, Ohio State drew the short straw in the Big Ten by having to play Indiana, Oregon and Penn State. They went 2-1 vs. those teams, but losing to Michigan at home is why they finished 10-2.
One thing that has become apparent in major college football is conference realignment has made SEC schedules far more daunting. It has done similar things to the Big Ten to some degree as well. I would argue that the soft middle of the Big Ten helped get four teams into the playoff out of that league no matter what. The SEC may get four teams in this year, but potentially on three teams now.
Every year is different, but Georgia should be so proud of being able to come out on top in the SEC.