Kirby Smart has transformed the Georgia program into one that’s consistently in the College Football Playoff conversation each preseason.
Smart guided the Dawgs to the playoff during the 2017 season and came so close to doing it again in both 2018 and 2019.
Could 2020 be the year that Smart gets the Dawgs back into the playoff? Pete Fiutak of College Football News thinks it’s a good possibility.
In his SEC bowl projections, Fiutak has Georgia sliding in and facing off against Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.
Yep, you read that correctly.
Georgia vs Ohio State, or as the media would read it come December: Georgia vs Justin Fields.
Could you imagine? Bulldogs vs Buckeyes in the Grandaddy of Them All, where replays of Sony Michel’s walk-off touchdown are still playing clearly in the brain of DawgNation.
Fiutak also recently projected Georgia’s win total for 2020, predicting 10 regular season wins for the Bulldogs next season.
With that in mind, it sounds like Fiutak has the Dawgs sneaking into and winning the SEC Championship Game with two regular season losses. In this scenario, that win in Atlanta would impress the committee enough to let a two-loss Georgia team, that played a very difficult regular season schedule, into the playoff.
I asked Fiutak for some more information on what led to this projection:
“Without spring ball to go on, just projecting talent – and Georgia has it. Here’s the deal. If the Dawgs split the Bama and Florida games, can they avoid a South Carolina loss like last year? They have to beat Auburn, too, but that’s at home. It’s still April – going with the call now that they win two of those three, and FINALLY pull off the SEC Championship. These things always change and adapt as we go … let’s see how these teams actually look, first.”
Fiutak also has Alabama and Clemson squaring off in the Sugar Bowl. Sadly, he predicts Ohio State and Alabama both advance past the semifinals and meet each other in Miami for the College Football Playoff National Championship.