Brian Kelly isn’t ready to hand the No. 1 spot in college football to Miami just yet.
The Hurricanes may have climbed to the top of the AP poll after a wild weekend, but Kelly said he’d still lean toward Georgia if he had to choose the team he trusts most. The former Notre Dame and LSU coach, now an analyst for CBS Sports Network, laid out his case on College Sports Radio on Sirius XM.
“By default, I’d probably go with Miami because they’re undefeated, and now their best win is still a top 25 win, but I usually go in this part of the year when you don’t have one, I go with the guy that I trust the most,” Kelly said on College Sports Radio on Sirius XM.
That coach, in Kelly’s view, is Kirby Smart.
“The guy that I trust the most to win me a game when I need a game is Kirby Smart. I just trust him.”
Kelly’s faith in Smart comes after Georgia’s huge road win over No. 6 Alabama two weeks ago, a result that briefly pushed the Bulldogs to No.
- But Georgia followed that up with a stunning home loss to unranked Auburn, and Smart said after the game that his team was emotionally and physically drained after the Alabama win.
Even with that setback, Kelly wasn’t willing to bury the Bulldogs.
“I know they lost the game. They were not the best team that day, but that doesn’t mean they’re not the best team in the country,” Kelly said of Georgia.
The AP poll gave Miami 40 first-place votes after the Hurricanes beat Florida State in double overtime, but 20 others went to BYU, which had its own huge day by knocking off then-No. 2 Notre Dame. BYU moved up to No. 2 and suddenly looks like a real force in the Big 12.
ESPN’s rankings took a different route, putting Ohio State at No. 1 after the Buckeyes ended Indiana’s 22-game win streak.
Kelly wasn’t interested in declaring a clear-cut best team after all that chaos.
“So long story short, I don’t know that there’s one that I would put my hat on. I think there’s a bunch of really good teams, and I think this is going to be a fun year to find out at the end.”
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