The 6-1 University of Georgia Bulldogs are ranked No. 5 in the week's AP Poll. That's the same ranking they had when they started the season, before they played a single game, and the same rank they held in Weeks 4 and 5, when they were 3-0 (i.e., before they played Alabama). But since that 'Bama loss, which knocked them down to No 12, they kept on winning and slowly rose back up in the rankings, moving to No. 10, then 9, and this week, after beating then-No 5 Ole Miss, 43-35, and now they're back to their original No. 5 slot like nothing ever happened.
Undefeated Ohio State, Indiana, and Texas A&M are Nos. 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Alabama (6-1) is No. 4, right above Georgia. Oregon (6-1) is No. 6, and unbelievably, Georgia Tech is undefeated and ranked No. 7. This year's Georgia-Georgia Tech game could be interesting.
Ole Miss, Georgia's victim last weekend, fell from No. 5 to No. 8.
Speaking of unbelievable, Miami lost to unranked Louisville, 24-21, on Saturday and fell from No. 2 to No. 9. Ex-Georgia QB Carson Beck, who fell out of favor with Bulldogs fans last year for a tendency to throw interceptions, got picked off four times in the loss. But an overrated ACC team losing to another ACC team isn't even the story here. Miami, as I'm sure you know, is - or was - the holder of the lineal college football championship, that imaginary title going all the way back to 1869, as well as Georgia's 2021 and 2022 championship rings.
The belt and the rings are now in Louisville, Kentucky, in the hands (wings?) of the Cardinals. Those prizes have already been on quite the ride this season - Florida had them at the start of this season and then lost them to South Florida. Miami won them from South Florida, and now Louisville won them from Miami.
I want Georgia to get their rings back, and it would be nice for them to hold the lineal championship belt, too, but the Bulldogs don't play Louisville this year (or hardly ever, for that matter) and Louisville's not going to the playoffs (sorry, Cardinals fans, but it's true). They won't play another ranked team again this season, but will have plenty of opportunities to lose the belt and the rings to unranked Boston College, or Clemson, or their in-state rivals, Kentucky, none of whom are going to the playoffs, either. It might take several seasons for those prizes to work their way back to where the Bulldogs could claim them. Thanks for nothing, Beck!
The other big upset last weekend was No. 10 LSU losing to No. 17 Vanderbilt, 31-24. Vandy moves up to become the new No. 10 (funny how teams claim their victim's ranking) and LSU falls all the way down to No. 20.
Georgia's off this weekend and then plays unranked Florida in the annual party down in Jacksonville. Can you imagine the excitement if Florida had somehow managed to hold onto the belt and rings all season, and the prizes were on the line?
No comments:
Post a Comment