College soccer followers would presume {that a} one-loss SEC staff who doesn’t should play within the convention title recreation would’ve lucked out so far as the College Football Playoff is anxious. Georgia made it final yr with one loss, as did Alabama in 2017-18. The solely one-loss SEC program to not get an at-large bid was Texas A&M and that was within the COVID season.
The winner of the Tennessee-Georgia recreation will likely be within the captain’s seat for a spot within the CFP barring a late-season upset. Even in the event that they lose to Bama within the title recreation, they’ll nonetheless have an incredible shot of creating it. If an SEC staff goes undefeated within the common season solely to have a hiccup in opposition to the Tide, a staff the choice committee at all times loves, my guess is that they’ll get the good thing about the doubt over whoever loses the Ohio State-Michigan recreation. We can debate whether or not that’s honest all day, but the variety of competent groups within the B1G, not to mention Top 25 iterations, is fairly bleak.
However, my guess is that if the CFP committee opts for 3 SEC groups, you’ll see some Jan. 6-type shit at wherever the committee’s headquarters are positioned — with much more anger, however simply as many Midwesterners. So with that stated, the trail to the playoff is way extra treacherous for the loser of UT-UGA as a result of they’d now not management their very own future, and consequently cede it to Nick Saban.
While it’s potential that the Tide may lose certainly one of both contests at LSU or at Ole Miss, I wouldn’t need to should depend on it. Yes, the Dawgs or Vols may beat Bama within the title recreation to avoid wasting their division brethren, however as I discussed beforehand, even with a loss, the SEC East champ will nonetheless be in line forward of the college they beat Saturday. Thus the much-needed motivation and focus that it’ll take UT or UGA to beat Bama received’t be fairly as dialed in as it might be if their season was at stake. Plus, UT already beat them, so a break up is principally a push.
I haven’t even talked about the CFP probabilities of an unbeaten ACC or Big 12 champ, a one-loss Pac-12 champ, or a one-loss Michigan or Ohio State. Basically, if there was ever a yr {that a} one-loss SEC staff could be SOL come choice time (that doesn’t coincide with a once-a-century pandemic), it’s this yr.
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In Week 10 of 2021, there were three perfect power five teams, and two of them were Wake Forest and Michigan State, who both lost that Saturday. Michigan, Ohio State, Clemson, Georgia, and Tennessee all have flawless marks in 2022, but one of them won’t after an afternoon between the hedges Saturday.
Playing keep-away is the key to a UGA win
As far as the game itself, the Bulldog defense and crowd are important as they’ve ever been. Josh Heupel and Hendon Hooker don’t have ESP with one another even though it wouldn’t shock you if that was the case with how lock-step they’ve been all season. The Vols fly up and down the field, and that doesn’t give the defense a chance to sub out players, or the crowd an opportunity to work itself back into a lather.
The UGA offense, led by QB Stetson Bennett, isn’t the type of unit that’s capable of going throw for throw with Hooker and all his weapons like Bryce Young and Alabama did in their shootout in Knoxville. It’ll have to be more of a consistent ball-control attack that makes every possession more valuable.
We’ve seen the formula for stifling uptempo offenses, and that’s by limiting opportunities and disrupting the rhythm. The best way to do that is to keep them off the field for large swaths of game time. Think a long drive to end the half, and another lengthy march to start the third to open up a double-digit lead. So, Kirby Smart, defer if the coin toss goes your way.
For Tennessee, it’s much the opposite. A fast start would go a long way and help the defense force UGA to be one-dimensional. If they turn this into a track meet, aka their type of game, it’ll take Bennett having an outing like he did against Oregon to win, and the Vols’ defense ain’t the Ducks.
Brian Kelly vs. Nick Saban: Round 3
It’s odd being in a position to root for Kelly. Even during his previous run-ins with Saban, I was more interested in seeing how bad Notre Dame got beat than believing the Irish could knock off the Tide. The Golden Domers met Bama in the 2013 BCS title game and the first round of the 2020-21 CFP, and were outscored by a total of 73-28.
LSU’s new head coach has been as successful as any coach this century who hasn’t lifted the national title trophy. Saban has been as successful, if not more successful, than any coach in the history of college football, and that’s borne out in the two’s previous high-profile matches largely because Saban is the superior coach but also due to Notre Dame not being in the same class athletically as Alabama.
Well, now Kelly has a similar level of talent, and the Tigers have been better than I thought they’d be this year. Had LSU been able to pull the W all the way out of their ass in Week 1 against Florida State, we’d be talking about CFP implications.
LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels has a 12-1 TD-INT ratio, and also leads the team in rushing, accruing more than 500 yards over eight starts. If the Bayou Bengals have any hopes of winning, he’ll have to do his best Hendon Hooker imitation, and ditto for receivers Malik Nabers or Kayshon Boutte’s joint effort trying to replicate Jalin Hyatt’s five-TD day against Bama.
The other factor Kelly has in his favor that he didn’t have in prior matchups with Saban is a belligerent Tiger Stadium at night. The longer the game stays close, the more rambunctious that crowd gets. Wait, is rambunctious the right word? I meant delirious.