Georgia finished 15-0 in 2022, but started this year in third place. Facing a grueling schedule this fall, will the Bulldogs be able to take the No. 1 spot unscathed?
With Nick Saban now on TV and Jim Harbaugh leaving for the NFL, it seems hard to argue that Georgia is the preeminent program in college football. The team has won two of the last three national titles and finished 13-1 in the one season they didn't win them all.
One thing Kirby Smart's program hasn't been able to do is maintain its No. 1 ranking, which it will likely be ranked heading into the start of the season this fall. Georgia has been ranked No. 1 in the preseason twice in the past 20 seasons, in 2008 and 2023.
It is well known that the 2008 run came to an end early in the season when Georgia, which had been fighting for supremacy for 15 years, lost at home to Alabama. The team would drop two more games, a blowout loss to Florida in Jacksonville and a loss at home to Georgia Tech. They defeated Michigan State in the Orange Bowl and finished the season with a 10-3 record.
Georgia State started last season at No. 1 and held that ranking throughout the regular season until losing to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, dropping the team from No. 1 to No. 6 in the final College Football Playoff rankings.
In 2024, Georgia State will likely open the season in first place, facing a powerhouse team in Clemson in Atlanta. They'll have to survive a tough schedule with road games at Texas, Kentucky, Alabama and Ole Miss, but the common thread that dropped them the last two times they tried to climb up the No. 1 spot is gone: Nick.・Saban. Could 2024 be the year Georgia makes the wire-to-wire transition?
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