Georgia still hasn’t convinced the AP Poll, but ESPN just did.
After Week 4, the AP kept the Bulldogs at No. 2 behind Texas, even though Georgia has ripped through its first four games by at least 28 points every time out. ESPN’s Football Power Index sees it differently. The FPI moved Georgia to No. 1 in the country.
That split says plenty about how the two rankings are viewing the Bulldogs right now. The AP is leaning on Texas’ better wins. Georgia is leaning on pure destruction.
The Bulldogs opened with Tennessee State and Western Kentucky, two games that were never going to test them, and Georgia handled both exactly like a team trying to make a statement, winning by 60 and 50 points. Then came the SEC portion of the schedule, and the margin didn’t change. Georgia beat Arkansas by 28, then followed that with another 28-point win over an Oklahoma team that entered the season ranked inside the top 10 of the preseason AP Poll.
Texas has the stronger resume on paper because of ranked wins over Ohio State and Tennessee, and that’s the big reason the AP has kept the Longhorns in front. Georgia hasn’t had that kind of headline victory yet. What it has had is total control, week after week.
The AP’s message is clear: if Georgia wants the No. 1 spot, it needs ranked wins. Vanderbilt won’t provide one this weekend, but the stretch after that could change everything.
Georgia’s next four-game run starts with a road trip to No. 7 Alabama in Week 6.
After that comes Auburn at home, then a bye week, then a neutral-site game against No. 8 Florida in Week 9.
The stretch ends with a road game at No. 9 Ole Miss.
If Georgia gets through that gauntlet cleanly, the case for No. 1 gets a lot louder.
Texas, though, has its own path that could complicate things. The Longhorns come out of their bye week and face Oklahoma and Florida, then still have games against Ole Miss, No.
16 Mississippi State, No. 25 Missouri and No.
11 LSU. That’s a brutal run, and it’s not hard to see Texas taking a loss somewhere along the way.
For now, the rankings debate is just that - a debate. Georgia can’t do anything about the AP Poll this week except keep winning, and Vanderbilt is the next stop. After that, the Bulldogs finally get the kind of schedule that can build the marquee wins the voters want to see.
In Other News...
Georgia Has One Dangerous Problem Heading Into Vanderbilt
Georgia has spent this season looking every bit like a team that expects to keep winning, and the matchup with Vanderbilt fits the same script on paper. The Bulldogs are undefeated, favored again, and coming off a run of steady, no-drama performances that have kept them in the thick of the national conversation while the rest of the league keeps trying to catch up.
Still, there is a little extra edge to this one because Vanderbilts quarterback is freshman Jared Curtis, who was once committed to Georgia before ending up with the Commodores. The bigger concern for the Bulldogs, though, is less about the opponent than about themselves and whether they can stay locked in for four quarters, since the season has shown they can control games when they stay sharp and leave openings only when their focus slips. [Read more 🡒]
Kirby Smart Hinted At A Bigger Georgia Role Fans Will Notice
With Vanderbilt next on the schedule, Kirby Smart used his weekly availability to touch on the usual game-week checkpoints and a few broader themes around Georgias roster. He praised Clark Leas work with the Commodores, pointed to players such as Jared Curtis and Thomas Blackshear as part of the discussion, and walked through the kind of injury and practice updates that tend to shape how the Bulldogs prepare from one Saturday to the next.
Smart also spent time on the kind of player development questions Georgia fans tend to notice over the course of a season, offering thoughts on London Humphreys, JJ Hane, Dwight Phillips and Jordan Hall. Taken together, the remarks suggested a coach looking beyond the immediate matchup, with more attention on how individual roles are taking shape and where the Bulldogs may be leaning as SEC play keeps moving forward. [Read more 🡒]
Brock Bowers Is Already Giving Georgia Fans A Reason To Watch
Brock Bowers wasted no time reminding everyone why Georgia fans still track his every move on Sundays. Back from a knee injury, the former Bulldogs star was the focal point of the Las Vegas Raiders offense in a 35-27 win over the New Orleans Saints, piling up 10 catches for 116 yards and a touchdown in a performance that looked awfully familiar to anyone who watched him in Athens.
There was more Georgia flavor in the result, too, with Nakobe Dean leading the Raiders defense with a team-high 12 tackles and helping close the door with a game-sealing fumble recovery. At 3-0, Las Vegas is leaning on multiple former Bulldogs in all three phases, and for Georgia fans, that makes the Raiders an especially relevant watch even before the full story of this season takes shape. [Read more 🡒]