Georgia still at No. 1 in latest coaches poll
Georgia was the No. 1 team in the country per the coaches and AP polls heading into its matchup with Tennessee on Saturday. The Bulldogs grabbed a statement win and, surprising no one, they are still in the top spot of the latest coaches poll.
UGA got 61 first-place votes with Michigan, ranked No. 3, grabbing two. Ohio State comes in at No. 2. TCU and Tennessee, in that order, round out the top five. Oregon is No. 6, giving Georgia two wins vs. the top six in the College Football Playoff rankings.
USC is ranked No. 7 followed by LSU at No. 8. Ole Miss is No. 9 and UCLA comes in at No. 10.
The Bulldogs dominated Tennessee, the No. 1 team in the College Football Playoff Rankings. Georgia jumped out to a 21-3 lead and led 24-6 at halftime. Kirby Smart might have been able to name his score if not for a third-quarter rain shower. That led to Smart deciding to let the air out of the football and lean on his defense.
Tennessee’s high-flying offense was held just 289 total yards, just over half of its season average per game. The Volunteers didn’t reach the end zone until late in the fourth quarter and the Georgia defense grabbed eight sacks (six official) without the services of Nolan Smith (pectoral muscle) and with limited contributions from Robert Beal (neck).
Dating back to the 2020 season, Georgia has now won 24 regular-season games in a row. The Bulldogs’ record since a going on a four-game win streak to end that season is now 27-1 with the lone loss coming to Alabama in the 2021 SEC Championship game. The Bulldogs then turned around and beat Alabama in the National Championship.
Now Smart’s seventh team at Georgia is trying to grab the program’s second title in as many years. This after losing 15 players to the 2022 NFL Draft and five defensive players in the first round.
“Recruiting hard. Playing with physical toughness,” Smart said when asked about the reload formula after last season. “I really don’t think it’s… I think everybody in the SEC recruits well. Everybody’s got good football players around them. Yeah, you’ve got to go sign good football players. We’ve done that but from what I hear from other people who watch us, it’s physical toughness. It’s Tuesday and Wednesday practice and I think physical toughness won out today for us because they’re a really physical team. People don’t understand that. They’re extremely physical. They run the ball between the tackles and until you take that away, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what you do outside. You better be able to strike people and get off blocks.”
Georgia has three games left in the 2022 regular season. It will be on the road the next two weeks starting with a trip to Mississippi State on November 12. Kickoff for that game is set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Then Georgia will make its way to Lexington, Kentucky on November 19 to take on the Wildcats. That game time and television assignment should be announced on Monday. The Bulldogs will wrap up the season at home vs. Georgia Tech. It’ll be the Yellow Jackets first trip to Sanford Stadium since 2018.
