Georgia football: a blowout win over Texas will be strike three against committee
Georgia football plays Texas in the Sugar Bowl this Tuesday. Kickoff is at 8:45 eastern time, and you can watch the game on ESPN.
The playoff committee is at the plate for a crucial, late game at-bat. The season is on the line, as is their reputation. Right now though, the count is 0-2 with a pair of laughable swings and misses. Strike one was the railroading Notre Dame suffered in Dallas, courtesy of the no. 2 Clemson Tigers. Strike two was the double-digit victory no. 1 Alabama had over the Oklahoma Sooners in Miami.
The season, the committee’s reputation and the image of the four-team playoff format hinges on one last pitch in New Orléans when the no. 5 ranked Georgia football team plays the Texas Longhorns. Georgia, of course, being the team the committee snubbed saying the Dawgs’ loss to Alabama made them undeserving of playing for a National Championship. Forget about the quality of the teams in question, and the likelihood of Oklahoma and Notre Dame to actually beat Alabama and Clemson.
With a Georgia loss to Texas, the committee will be get out of the jam. They will be justified in their decision to leave the Bulldogs out of the top four. A lopsided loss by Georgia would be even better for the committee as Texas split their 2018 series with Oklahoma.
But a win for the Dawgs will look bad for the committee. A blowout win would be a disaster for the committee. There will be no justification for the committee if that happens. They will need to look at themselves as individuals and as a group and have a serious conversation about how they should choose the top four teams in the future.
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They chose the four based on who were the best last year, not the most deserving, by picking Alabama to be the no. 4 seed over the Big 10 Champion Ohio State Buckeyes. Alabama defeated Clemson and Georgia to win the National Championship. They found justification. They reversed their decisions this year and ended up with two tune-up games in the playoffs. So far, their decision to choose based on who deserves a playoff spot has not been justified. They better hope Texas beats Georgia. Radical changes could be on the horizon for the committee and the entire playoff format if Georgia crushes the Longhorns.