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Olivia Sayer
Georgia running back Trevor Etienne (1) in action during the NCAA college football game between Georgia and Ole Miss at Vaught–Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi on Nov. 9, 2024. Ole Miss won 28-10. (Photo/Laney Martin; @LaneyMartinPhotography)
College Football Playoff selection committee chair Warde Manuel pinpointed one area Georgia must improve upon in order to earn a spot in the newly expanded 12-team playoff.
“Their offense hasn’t been consistent,” said Manuel, who also serves as Michigan’s athletic director. “They’ve struggled with some turnovers.”
The committee ranked Georgia at No. 12 in Tuesday’s College Football Playoff rankings. The Bulldogs now sit as the first team out after an 18-point loss to Ole Miss — their largest margin of defeat since the 2020 season.
It’s no secret the Bulldogs have struggled offensively this season. Georgia ranks No. 104 in the FBS for yards rushing per game, while ranking 50th in total yards per game. Although the Bulldogs are top-16 in yards passing per game, its 15 turnovers — which often occur at inopportune times — stood out to the selection committee.
The committee believes Georgia’s defense falls victim to its offensive struggles, as Manuel said that the unit “has been solid.”
“We felt that that plays a factor,” Manuel said, referencing Georgia’s defensive performance in its 28-10 loss to Ole Miss. “With the offense struggling, their defense was on the field quite a bit.”
Georgia dropped nine spots, which was the largest of any team still in the top-25. Manuel said that the selection committee believed the Bulldogs “had to” be behind No. 10 Alabama and No. 11 Ole Miss due to their similar records and head-to-head matchups.
Alabama and Ole Miss are two of the four top-25 (CFP) teams Georgia has played thus far, with three coming on the road. For comparison, No. 1 Oregon has faced two teams listed in the top-25 — both at home — while No. 2 Ohio State has won just one. No. 3 Texas, whom Georgia beat in what Manuel called “one of the best wins of the year,” has yet to defeat a top-25 team.
Despite Georgia’s significant drop, Manuel said that strength of schedule is something the selection committee “looks at each and every time, early in the deliberations.”
“It’s an evaluation that takes into consideration strength of schedule, but it also evaluates how you play against those teams that are on your schedule, whether it’s a strong schedule or weak schedule,” Manuel said.
One of the main arguments surrounding the College Football Playoff rankings is that highly-ranked teams would not beat those listed below them. Manuel said that predicting who would win hypothetical head-to-head matchups is not a part of the committee’s protocol.
“We have to evaluate based on the performance on the field that we see,” Manuel said. “We can’t determine who would hypothetically win a game on paper. That’s not any of the things that we do. It’s not a part of our protocol to try to predict what would happen in the future, and so we don’t have any conversation about that as it relates to how we rank the teams.”
Although it is out of the playoff picture now, Georgia will have a chance to get back in the mix against No. 7 Tennessee on Saturday. The game is set for 7:30 p.m. at Sanford Stadium.