The entire point of the season -- at least if you’re a top-tier Power 5 program -- it’s to be in the top four teams as judged by the College Football Playoff selection committee, then win your next two games and claim a national championship.
Georgia is well on their way to doing that, debuting at No. 1 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings released on Tuesday night. What’s Kirby Smart‘s reaction to that?
He hates it, of course.
UGA coach Kirby Smart on the No. 1 CFP ranking: "It really means nothing right now. It’s really nothing more than a distraction.”
— Marc Weiszer (@marcweiszer) November 1, 2017
A Saban protege -- heck, the Saban protege -- has followed the Alabama blueprint perfectly thus far: a 7-win debut, followed by a run to a No. 1 ranking in November of the second season.
For Smart’s sake, here’s hoping that his 2017 campaign doesn’t end the same way as Saban’s 2008. That year, Alabama ran through the regular season undefeated before falling to the reigning SEC king in the conference title game, who then went on to win that season’s national title.