Georgia rightfully voted the No. 1 team in the country in the preseason coaches poll

After three of the four teams in last year’s college football playoff were forced to replace their head coach, the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff with reshuffled conferences looks to be wide open. This offseason, there has been plenty of talk about two Big Ten teams with new transfer portal quarterbacks that appear to be contenders for the national title in Ohio State and Oregon, but the favorites to win it all? That’s Georgia and the coaches around college football agree. 

On Monday, the preseason coaches poll was released and with 46 first-place votes, the Georgia Bulldogs were comfortably the top team in the country. After missing out on the CFP last season, much of the core that won the back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022 is gone, but with Nick Saban gone, Kirby Smart is now the most feared man in college football and in this vote, the other coaches gave him the respect he deserved. 

There are now just three active head coaches with national championships on their resume, Smart, Dabo Swinney, and Mack Brown, and of the top 12 teams in last year’s final CFP rankings, just five return both their head coach and starting quarterback, Ole Miss, Penn State, Missouri, Georgia, and Texas. Despite Georgia finishing three spots behind Steve Sarkisian’s Longhorns finishing at No. 3 before losing their Sugar Bowl loss to Washington, the coaches recognize the superiority of Smart’s program and his quarterback. 

After Georgia’s 46 first-place votes, Ohio State, ranked No. 2 in the poll, received seven while No. 4 Texas and No. 8 Michigan each received one. Unlike Sarkisian’s team, Smart’s defense will never be a question heading into the year and on the offensive side, Carson Beck outplayed Quinn Ewers for much of last season. 

Beck is the top returning quarterback in terms of passing yards, just ahead of Memphis’s Seth Henigan. With his 3,941 yards through the air, Beck finished third in the country last season, only behind Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix. That continuity between coach and a Heisman Trophy candidate QB is one of the many reasons why Georgia should be the No. 1 team in the country to start the year. The most difficult schedule in the country could be the only reason the Bulldogs ever relinquish that spot.

In their 63-3 drubbing of Florida State in the Orange Bowl, the Dawgs made a statement. The committee should have never left them out of the CFP, even after a loss to Alabama, and that revenge tour energy that embarrassed Mike Norvell's depleted program will be present all season in Athens. Kirby Smart has only lost two games over the last three seasons. Georgia knows what it's like to play with a target on your back, and Smart's group will have to do that all season long.