Kirby Smart puts College Football Playoff committee on blast following Georgia's win over Tennessee
The Georgia Bulldogs entered Week 12 against the Tennessee Volunteers (No. 7) with their playoff hopes on the line after the College Football Playoff committee knocked them down and out to No. 12 following their road loss to Ole Miss. The overall rankings and criticism confused many, including Smart, considering both of Georgia's losses happened […]
The Georgia Bulldogs entered Week 12 against the Tennessee Volunteers (No. 7) with their playoff hopes on the line after the College Football Playoff committee knocked them down and out to No. 12 following their road loss to Ole Miss.
The overall rankings and criticism confused many, including Smart, considering both of Georgia's losses happened on the road against two of the very best teams in college football.
Smart had something to say about the College Football Playoff's committee and their thought process following Georgia's 31-17 win over the Vols, which firmly locked them back into the playoff picture.
"I think they're going to always do that because that's what I say about the eyeball test," Smart said of the committee's criticism. "But they're not in that environment. They're not at Ole Miss in that environment, playing against that defense, which is top five in the country, with one of the best pass rushers in the country, and they're fired up. They got a two-score lead, and they're coming every play that they don't know. They don't understand that.
"They'll probably say this week and say, well, 'We [Georgia] just played against one of the best defenses. They are one of the best defenses in the country, and we went for 453 [total yards], you know, and could have been more.' So it's just a tale of each week, and we're trying to be the cumulative whole really good quality team and not be on this emotional roller coaster that's controlled by people in a room somewhere that may not understand football as we do as coaches. We as coaches look at people and say, 'What can we do better?' 'How do we get better?' I respect their decision. I respect their opinion. But I mean, it's different in our league. So, Go Dawgs."
Georgia competed on the road in front of four tough SEC environments, including against three teams ranked in the AP's Top 25 (Texas, Ole Miss, Alabama), before returning home to play a top-ranked Tennessee team.
Although Smart wouldn't directly say it, the overall disrespect and ignorance of how hard their schedule has been this season was felt in the CFB playoff rankings heading into Saturday.
"Everybody thinks we should win every game," Smart said. "I'm very proud of our team. If you told me that this group would be this resilient, I would probably say I don't doubt it, because they're great kids, and they played the tough schedule in our league, and we still have two games left of tough teams. Georgia Tech is a great team, and UMass has played three or four SEC teams already.
"… I don't know what they're looking for. I really don't. I wish they could really define the criteria. I wish they could do the eyeball test really come down here and look at the people we're playing against and look at them. You can't see that stuff on a TV, so I don't know what they look for, but that's that's for somebody else to decide. I'm worried about our team."
Stadium atmosphere and playing on the road in the SEC are two things that Smart has stressed since the Bulldogs rolled over the Auburn Tigers in Week 6 in front of a "disappointing" Georgia crowd.
Dressed in all black, fans showed up for the Bulldogs on Saturday night and the stadium was rocking.
Smart, to say the least, was very pleased.
"I thought that energy was electric," he said. "It helped us and inspired our kids and players."
