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Georgia atop AP Poll headed into postseason

Palmber-Thombsby:Palmer Thombs•11/27/22•

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Tony Walsh / UGA Sports Communications

College Football’s regular season is in the books, and it’s on to the postseason, but before bowls can happen, we’ve got to see how the conference championships shake out. After a 12-0 regular season, Kirby Smart’s Georgia Bulldogs sit atop the AP Poll over the rest of the country, receiving 58 of the possible 63 first-place votes.

Michigan comes in at No. 2 after a nice win on Saturday over Ohio State – its second straight in the rivalry – while TCU and USC round out the top four – of course important with the four-team College Football Playoffs in mind. It’s the same set up as the Coaches Poll which was announced earlier in the day on Sunday, and we’ll have to wait and see how the College Football Playoff rankings look come Tuesday. Behind that group is Ohio State, Alabama, Tennessee, Penn State, Washington and Clemson to round out the top 10.

LSU, Oregon, South Carolina and Mississippi State are all also ranked in the 11-25 range giving Georgia in total five matchups against teams currently ranked. That’s the most of anybody in the top 10.

New AP Top 25 Poll after Week 13

  1. Georgia (12-0) (58 first-place votes)
  2. Michigan (12-0) (5)
  3. TCU (12-0)
  4. USC (11-1)
  5. Ohio State (11-1)
  6. Alabama (10-2)
  7. Tennessee (10-2)
  8. Penn State (10-2)
  9. Washington (10-2)
  10. Clemson (10-2)
  11. LSU (9-3)
  12. Utah (9-3)
  13. Kansas State (9-3)
  14. Florida State (9-3)
  15. Oregon (9-3)
  16. Oregon State (9-3)
  17. UCLA (9-3)
  18. Tulane (10-2)
  19. Notre Dame (8-4)
  20. South Carolina (8-4)
  21. Texas (8-4)
  22. UCF (9-3)
  23. UTSA (10-2)
  24. North Carolina (9-3)
  25. Mississippi State (8-4)

Georgia defeated in-state rival Georgia Tech on Saturday 37-14 behind a big day from the Bulldog ground game. Georgia rushed for 269 yards on its way to finishing out a second straight undefeated regular season.

“First I want to thank our fans for coming out. You know, it’s a great atmosphere. I felt there’s some lulls in the game at times and sleepwalking through it. And that always scares you, and I think our fans kind of pushed us over the edge for some momentum there in the game,” Kirby Smart said in his postgame press conference. “Georgia Tech ran a lot of credit to their staff. Staff has changed over and then worked really hard this year at putting game plans together and you can tell they’ve done a lot of work. They did a good job defensively and a good job offensively with a game plan. I’ve got a lot of respect for the staff and the players, the way that the players competed in the game. I thought special teams came through today. And it’s the first game in quite a while that we made some plays in special teams to kind of give us some momentum and get us rolling. so proud of that. All in all, it’s on to the next one. Great regular season for this group. They’ve done everything that we’ve asked him to do, and they only get bigger from here.”

Georgia takes on LSU this Saturday in the SEC Championship Game. It’s the fifth meeting between the Bulldogs and Tigers in Atlanta with the conference title on the line. LSU has won three of the previous four including most recently in 2019. Georgia last won the SEC title in Kirby Smart’s second season on the job back in 2017, taking down Auburn. Kickoff time from Mercedes-Benz Stadium is set for 4:00 p.m. ET on CBS.

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