Georgia beating Florida in the fashion that it did is the reason the Bulldogs are my updated national championship pick. After the debacle that has been the Oregon Ducks’ season, I needed a new team at the top of my board, and the answer was always going to be Georgia. What we watched against the Gators confirmed it.

This is not about one rivalry win. It’s about the guy on the Georgia sideline and what his teams look like when the stakes continue to go up.

Kirby Smart is the coach I trust most to win the National Championship

There is not a single coach in college football I trust more than Kirby Smart. Not one.

And you may say, Tegan, what about Curt Cignetti? That’s a fair conversation, and I’m not going to pretend Indiana’s coach hasn’t earned a ton of respect. But Cignetti just took a home loss to an unranked team coming off a bye week. Compare that to Smart. Give him extra time to prepare, and he is going to maximize it better than anybody in the sport.

Now, take that into the college football playoff. Every contender this season has weaknesses. Every single one. Which coach is going to have his team most prepared to find those weaknesses and take advantage of them? For me, it’s Smart, and it isn’t close.

The reason is the standard. The bar at Georgia sits significantly higher than it does almost anywhere else, and even the fanbase holds the program to it. That’s what happens when you’ve won the way this program has won. A good season isn’t good enough in Athens, and the players feel that every week.

The defense did all of the heavy lifting against Florida

I get it. This game against Florida wasn’t perfect. The offense left plenty to pick apart, and nobody watching would call it a clean performance on that side of the ball.

But the defense squeezed the life out of the Gators. Florida’s offensive coordinator had Georgia’s number for two straight years, and this time the Bulldogs completely flipped that script. Florida was boxed in for the majority of the game. Georgia took the Gators’ best player and made him look pedestrian.

Take that as a win. Take a win in that fashion as a success, because a defense that can suffocate an offense that has given you problems is the kind of unit that travels in January.

Flawed teams can win the title in 2026

Gunner Stockton makes enough plays to win games. Is he flawless? No. Does this receiver room need more help on the outside? Probably.

If this were 2016 and Georgia had to line up against the best Alabama squads of that era, I’d tell you the Bulldogs needed more firepower to get it done. That version of college football punished every weakness you had. That isn’t the sport we’re watching anymore.

Nobody in the playoff field is a finished product. Oregon looked like the most complete team in the country on paper heading into the season, and look where that got me. Flawed football teams can win a national championship in this era. That’s just the truth.

So when I look at the field and ask which flawed team has the best chance to cover up its problems, the answer comes back to the defense and the coach. Georgia has a defense that can win a game by itself, a quarterback who does enough, and a head coach who will have his guys more prepared than whoever is standing across from them.

The Bulldogs are my national championship pick. There’s no one I trust more to get the job done than Kirby Smart, and I’m stamping that one right now.