It may be a bit misleading since Georgia did not play in Week 9, but no doubt about it, this team is a serious national championship contender. At 6-1 on the year and 4-1 in SEC play with two quality wins over Tennessee and Ole Miss, what else does Georgia have to do to get its respect besides beat Alabama? ESPN's Bill Connelly conveniently forgot about Georgia in his Week 9 recap post Sunday...
He wrote that Alabama, Indiana, Ohio State and Texas A&M are the ones playing like national champions. While all four of those teams could conceivably do it, Georgia belongs in the same company as them. In fact, one could argue they should be ahead of two of those teams. Yes, Georgia has an Alabama problem, so the Crimson Tide are good being ahead of the Dawgs for the time being.
The other team would have to be the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes. This is not a perfect team, but they have the depth, on-field talent and coaching to win back-to-back playoffs. Where there should be some pushback is on the idea of Indiana and Texas A&M being more likely title contenders than Georgia. Both of those teams are excellent, but neither has ever won big previously.
Texas A&M has the depth that could come back to haunt Indiana, while the Aggies are so unproven...
Georgia belongs in the same grouping of serious national title contenders
Truth be told, it might actually serve Georgia to not get to Atlanta. Georgia controls its playoff destiny, but not its SEC Championship Game destiny. Because the Dawgs lost the head-to-head tiebreaker to Alabama, they would need for the Crimson Tide two lose twice in conference play to conceivably take their spot. Since Texas A&M is still one of six undefeated teams, Georgia needs to see them fall, too.
Regardless of if Georgia somehow makes it to Atlanta, the Dawgs have five things working in their favor to potentially win the College Football Playoff from any seed. They have recent history on their side. Kirby Smart is still the best head coach in college football. This team has the depth to navigate the body blows the playoff will put forth. Gunner Stockton is a Heisman contender. There is also this...
The fifth might serve them more so than some of the teams Connelly likes more than Georgia to win the national title. What happens if and when Indiana, Ohio State and Texas A&M get punched in the face? How will they respond? Alabama answered the bell after falling to Florida State. As long as the Dawgs can avoid the Crimson Tide all together, they could be fine. Georgia likes to be uncomfortable.
And that right there is why you can trust Georgia more so than you could Indiana and Texas A&M in a championship-caliber setting... Indiana might not be the same team playing off-schedule, or even behind. Texas A&M may look the part, but we know how self-destructive this program has been historically when it inevitably hits the fan. Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State hail from a different class.
In the end, there are more than just those four national title contenders that Connelly listed. If there are only five, Georgia is chief among them. While there should be six, possibly upwards of eight, those other would-be contenders need to make their way out of the woodwork. Is it someone like Miami, Ole Miss or Oregon? Potentially. Either way, Georgia is closer to Connelly's four favorites than it is not.
Regardless, Georgia needs to hunker down and take care of business in a very busy November now.