No. 1 Ohio State suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday as they fell to Texas 24-23. Their defeat, even if it came to No. 4 Texas on the road, will move them down the rankings at least a couple spots which paves the way for a new team to take over at the top of the AP Poll rankings.
There's an argument to be made for Texas to take over the top spot since they were the ones who knocked them off, but No. 2 Georgia is sitting right there with two blowout wins ready to become the new No. 1 team in the country as well.
Georgia and Texas both have valid cases to be the new No. 1 team in the country
It would be difficult to not give the No. 1 ranking to Texas after they were the team to beat Ohio State. After trailing by 17 points at halftime and losing 23-3 at one point the Longhorns stormed all the way back and scored 21 unanswered points to win 24-23.
For them it really is quite simple, they beat the No. 1 team in the country so they have as good of a case as anyone to be the new No. 1 team in the country. It'd be one thing if Texas was unranked and pulled off an upset, but the Longhorns were already viewed as one of the best teams in the country and beating the No. 1 team may mean they deserve that spot over everyone else.
Georgia however has a case to move up to No. 1 as well though. The Bulldogs were the No. 2 team in the AP Poll this week meaning AP voters already thought Georgia was better than Texas. Georgia handled their business this week by beating Western Kentucky 70-20, so they didn't do anything to deserve to be jupmed by another team.
If Georgia had only beat Western Kentucky by 10 points then it would be easy to move Texas past them, but that's not what happened. Georgia won on Saturday by 50 and won their week one game by 60 points, so they might deserve to move up to No. 1 even though Texas has the better win.
Neither Texas or Georgia being the new No. 1 team in the country is a wrong decision because they both have valid arguments for why it should be them. From Georgia's perspective it may be nice to be the No.1 team in the country for the first time in a few years, but seeing Texas jump them could be a source of new motivation to push them even harder this season.
Georgia, Texas could eventually settle their diffrences in the SEC Championship game
Georgia and Texas do not play during the regular season this year, but their paths could cross at the SEC Championship game in December. Entering the season they were the two most likely teams to win the conference, and through the first two weeks that hasn't changed.
So while there is a debate for who should be the No. 1 team in the country this week these teams could eventually settle it on the field later this season.
Both teams still have a lot of work to do just to get to the SEC Championship game though, but many of the other best teams in the league have showed some weaknesses that Georgia and Texas haven't yet. Oklahoma just lost to a Michigan team that controversially beat Western Michigan in week one, and LSU didn't pull away from Louisiana Tech until late in the game. Even Alabama didn't look that impressive against Kentucky even though the won 45-17.
Georgia and Texas fans might argue about who should be No. 1 this week, but there's a chance they'll get to settle it on the field in a few months. While it would be nice to have that No. 1 next to Georgia's name right now it ultimately doesn't matter because it would be much better to be No. 1 at the end of the season.
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