Georgian football remains No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll after chaotic rivalry week defeated some teams keen on a playoff run. While one or two of them might find their way back into the top 4, more mayhem is needed, but one thing is for sure, the Dawgs did their job once again and ended the regular season with a perfect 12-0 record.
The Dawgs didn’t need to blow out Georgia Tech, and while the game was more challenging than anyone thought, they still won by 23 points. At the same time, it was Rivalry Week, so anything could happen – how you finish is what counts.
Most winning teams did just that, but there were a few losses throughout the day. Luckily, Georgia wasn’t one of them, and it had to watch as those other programs fell after they finished playing in the early afternoon.
Georgian football made it through Rivalry Week without a hitch, but not everyone can say that.
Ohio State, Clemson and LSU all lost to their rivals this week and opened the playoff route wide open – it was glorious to watch. Florida even fell to the state of Florida so it was an excellent weekend to be a Dawg fan.
Michigan brought the Buckeyes to the woodshed in front of a home crowd in Ohio State, and it’s caused quite a stir ever since. Buckeye fans are poised to fire head coach Ryan Day, which seems odd, but you gotta love Rivalry Week and what it’s doing to fans. That win for Michigan was the first time the Wolverines had won at The Shoe since 2000, so it hurt the Buckeyes.
Ohio State has improved to 11-1 this season and their playoff hope isn’t quite there yet, but there needs to be a bit of chaos to get the Buckeyes back into the top four. Michigan controls its destiny but must obliterate Purdue in next week’s Big 10 Championship Game.
South Carolina broke its streak in two ways against Clemson, who defeated the Tigers 31-30 for the first time in seven years. The seven-year drought is over, but so is Clemson’s home-game winning streak, which ended at 40 games. That loss gives the Tigers two in the season, putting them presumably out of the playoff hunt.
LSU was beaten by an unranked Texas A&M team that isn’t even eligible to play in a bowl game, and that was just disaster for the Bayou Bengals. They had hoped to become the first team to lose twice in the playoffs, but after that ugly loss, there’s no way the committee will choose them over someone with a better resume.
Here’s the entire AP Top 25 after the Rivalry Week mayhem:
- Georgia (12-0)
- Michigan (12-0)
- TCU (12-0)
- USC (11-1)
- Ohio State (11-1)
- Alabama (10-2)
- Tennessee (10-2)
- Pennsylvania (10-2)
- Washington (10-2)
- Clemson (10-2)
- LSU (9-3)
- Utah (9-3)
- State of Kansas (9-3)
- Florida State (9-3)
- Oregon (9-3)
- Oregon State (9-3)
- UCLA (9-3)
- Tulane (10-2)
- Notre Dame (8-4)
- South Carolina (8-4)
- Texas (8-4)
- UCF (9-3)
- UTSA (10-2)
- North Carolina (9-3)
Georgia continues to control its destiny and is the clear No. 1 team, although Michigan gets five of those first-place votes. It’s not stupid that they did that, because what they did to the state of Ohio was impressive.
TCU was another to impress this week as they demoralized Iowa State 62-14. A few people didn’t think they were going to win this week, but these people were wrong. TCU controls their playoff hopes and all they have to do is win next week’s Big 12 Championship Game.
Georgia enjoyed another week without too much drama, and it’s good to see because it only gets more complicated from here. The Dawgs need to beat LSU in the SEC championship next week to hold on to that No. 1 ranking, and it appears they will. Tuesday’s college football playoff rankings should show a similar ranking as there is just a week left before the world knows who the final four will be.