I think they did.
Some will say Georgia is clearly one of the best four teams in the nation. They very well might be, but they lost by three touchdowns to an offensively pedestrian LSU team and then choked at a home site arena against Alabama in a game where it was clear from the start Tua Tugavailoa was never healthy. When it mattered, Georgia basically cratered to Alabama with Jalen Hurts closing the game at quarterback.
So tell me why does Georgia deserve special treatment? Does Georgia deserve special treatment just because they had a banner recruiting year attracting five stars?
Yeah, on paper, Georgia is right there with Alabama and Clemson. No doubt. But winning does kind of matter or at least it should.
Both Oklahoma and Ohio State should have been above Georgia in the final ranking. If Ohio State would have been ranked above OU it wouldn’t be a big deal to me. I could live with that. The Buckeyes only lost one game. They won their conference. They pummeled Michigan when they had to win. They beat Penn State on the road in an early season game which I thought was one of the better games of the college football season. If any fanbase should be pissed…it’s Buckeye Nation.
The OU-Alabama matchup will give the nation a chance to see a historic offense with a Heisman finalist trying to derail another Crimson Tide national championship. It’s a compelling matchup.
Kyler Murray versus Tua Tugavailoa.
Is Georgia better than OU on paper on both sides of the football? They probably are better defensively, yet this Georgia team to me isn’t as talented as the Georgia team OU should have beaten last season in the Rose Bowl. It’s not like this Georgia team deserves any special consideration. They played three virtual tomato cans in U Mass, Austin Peay, and Middle Tennessee in non-conference games. In crossover games against the SEC West they went 1-2 with the only win over a bad Auburn team which might be firing Gus Malzahn as its head coach later this month.
I mean, we all know the Golden State Warriors have the best roster in basketball. But they still have to win twelve playoff games to reach the NBA Finals. They have to win games. Even the Golden State Warriors have to win games.
Throw out the loss to Alabama. Circle Georgia’s three touchdown loss to LSU and you should have your answer as to why the committee didn’t get it wrong by omitting Georgia from the college football playoff.
In hindsight, if Georgia fans want to vent, they should be venting at their head coach Kirby Smart for the dumbest coaching decision on a punt since Bob Stoops repunted to Tyreke Hill.
So none of this is clearly perfect, especially if you’re a Ohio State fan this morning, but at least the committee did the right thing in not giving Georgia a bye to the national semis and instead have given college football fans the Kyler Murray vs. Alabama matchup.
For Georgia, it should be simple. You should be like the rest of the college football world. If you beat Alabama then you either advance or win a big trophy in the final game of the season.