Welcome to Dawg Debate, where two of our own from Dawg Sports tackle a burning question heading into Georgia’s next game.
This week, Lugnut Dawg and Macon Dawg take a look at the Georgia – Alabama game. More notably – can Georgia afford to lose this game or not?
Lugnut Dawg: Playoff chances are not on the line. SEC Supremacy is. That’s why Georgia cannot afford to lose this game
There are visions, I’m sure, that fans have envisioned on post-Nick Saban Alabama. Those musings probably are in line with the Mike Shula or Mike Dubose era, where the Crimson Tide was good, but not great.
But to expect an 8-4 season from Tuscaloosa due to Terry Saban’s husband no longer being on the sideline is foolhardy. At least for a span of two or three years, the Crimson Tide will be very formidable due to the stockpile of talent that Kalen DeBoer inherited.
And DeBoer is a very good offensive mind whose star is fast rising. That’s why Saturday night in Tuscaloosa will be anything but easy.
That level of difficulty is out of the window, because this is one of the biggest must-win games of Kirby Smart’s career. No, this does not define a legacy, but it is an opportunity for Georgia to show that with Saban gone, someone else has their chance to be the SEC standard-bearer.
It’s not worth belaboring the close calls Georgia has had in its recent losses to Alabama. The Bulldogs are hardly alone in falling short, as Saban’s Alabama teams in so many ways found ways to break opposing team’s hearts.
But there was a prevailing thought during Saban’s reign of terror, that once he was gone, Alabama would no longer be as invincible. Georgia has a chance to prove that point on Saturday.
If not, Georgia will not be a program that couldn’t get past Nick Saban. It’ll be the one that could be anybody for the most part not named Alabama.
Macon Dawg: One loss does not ruin a season anymore. This game is no exception.
I’m looking forward to a lot about this game. What I am not looking forward to is the overreaction it will engender regarding the loser, whichever team that is. This matchup represents both what is good and what is bad about the new order of college football. The winner seems all but guaranteed a spot in the college football playoff. Even with a loss further down the schedule, this one is a marquee win that should be more impressive than anything Missouri, Illinois, or Duke is going to have on their résumé.
The loser of this game, so long as they do not get blown out, will at worst have a close loss to what is likely to be one of the top three teams in the country. As we’ve seen in March Madness selection, sometimes who you lose to and how can be even more impactful than who you beat. Barring catastrophe further down the schedule, a 31-20 defeat in this kind of game is perfectly sufficient to land a top five playoff seed. Even assuming the loser drops one more game after this one, that team will still likely be in line for a top ten playoff seed.
again, this is because the playoff selection committee will be choosing from among one and two lost teams based on resumes. It’s the whole reason Kirby Smart has begun maniacally lining up solid non-Conference opponents. In this era of college football, you would rather be a 10–2 team that played the toughest schedule in the country than a 12-0 team whose signature victory is over Central Colorado.
For Georgia, a loss here would probably mean the Red and Black have to split road contests against Texas and Ole Miss and avoid slipping up elsewhere on the schedule to assure a playoff spot. We really don’t yet know how the committee would treat a team with three road losses to top 5 opponents.
But that’s not really any different from prior seasons. Georgia was very likely one of the four best teams in America last season and got knocked out because they lost the one week you absolutely cannot afford to: the one when the committee makes the selections. The point is there is still a lot of margin for error and the objective is to be the best team in college football in late December and early January, not late September and early October.
Do I want the Dawgs to win this one and all but punch a playoff ticket? Sure. But I’m not going to panic if they don’t. There’s a whole lot of football yet to be played, and Georgia is one of the teams best built for December. Whether we get there at 13-0 or 10-2 everyone is 0-0 when the playoff starts.
Go ‘Dawgs!!!