GEORGIA
Nick Saban gave Georgia his “ultimate compliment” after the SEC Championship Game.
“They are one of the four best teams in the country,” Saban said Saturday night. “I don’t want to play them again. That is the ultimate compliment I can give them.”
Sunday, however, when the Coaches Poll revealed the voters’ ballots, it was found that Saban had actually voted the Bulldogs No. 5 in the country.
At a Thursday press conference of all the College Football Playoff head coaches, Saban was asked about the discrepancy between his comment and his vote.
“Well I do think they’re one of the top four teams in the country,” Saban said. “But I didn’t think they were going to get in the playoffs with two losses.”
The selection committee’s vote is obviously independent of the Coaches Poll, but it is interesting Saban chose not to vote Georgia a top-four team after Week 14.
So, he voted that way because he knew the committee was going to vote that way…?
Because Georgia has two losses. He was more than reasonably sure that this committee was not going to put a two loss team in.
That’s Nick Saban. No one should be surprised…
#4thAnd11 Or do you prefer #TuaAnd26
I like 4th and Kirby myself
It’s called playing the game and showing the teams your actually going to play respect, no bulletin material for them but you rank Oklahoma lower, they can pump the narrative they don’t respect you. But you’re too blinded by your red and black glasses to look past anything but a dis on Georgia.
Sorry nick that sounded like one of my kids trying to explain away a contradiction they made.
That’s a strange explanation.
An assistant fills out the ballots most programs most of the time….
That has nothing to do with this situation. Saban owned the vote, it’s just that the explanation was a bit weird.
Doesn’t make sense, but neither does continuing to have or care about the coaches poll.
The only coaches poll that has any meaning is the last one.
What does it matter since coaches poll means nothing. Is it possible that he campaigned for Georgia but voted his conscience? The 2 loss comment was telling.
True dat. He’s definitly not a good wordsmith.
He said that he wouldn’t want to face them again. He wasn’t lying. He voted accordingly.
His vote has no bearing on that.
For sure, Georgia should have been in the play-offs without exception. However, they should have been at #3 and Notre Dame at #4. How do you play the best team, with the best coach in the nation to the game we all saw was soooo very close. There isn’t any justification that can be given….been a football fanatic all my life….this is one of those injustices that happen. Great respect for Coach Saban and Coach Smart.
BR
I think Saban was telling the truth about UGA being a top 4 team and not wanting to okay them again and I think by him saying he just didnt think they would make it was his way of voting OU ahead of them cause he probably has a hundred guys crunching numbers and saying that OU is probably a 70% of who they will face between UGA, OU and OSU at the 4th spot in the playoff. I think people are driving too deep…Saban didnt want to give bulletin board material to the team he figured he would face and tell me was he wrong? He is playing OU so he made the correct vote as to not give OU motivation to prove his ranking if he has ranked UGA ahead of them wrong. However we all know UGA is better than OU and ND and I would argue Clemson too
Dabo made that mistake when he voted Ohio State into the playoff but Bama got in..Bama probably used that..Saban probably didnt want to make the same mistake
Exactly. Why is this so hard to understand??
That’s a sensible explanation. I get that completely.
The coaches poll has no bearing on the CFP..
It’s pretty simple. I think what he’s saying is that like many others he feels that Georgia is one of the best 4 teams but doesn’t actually deserve to be in the final 4. I mean, you’ve got to draw the line some where and if you’re really one of the top 4 you can’t go into Baton Rouge and lose by 20 points. Not matter how good you think a team is you still have to look at they’re body of work. After beating Georgia and Alabama back to back last year many agreed that Auburn was probably one of the top 4 teams even after losing to Georgia in the SEC Championship game. However the body of work and 3 losses was not good enough.
I think it really doesn’t matter anymore! UGA had the opportunity to make the final 4 and loss. Me personally I’m still happy with this season and can’t wait till next season. UGA was a young team and should be even better next season! GO DAWGS!!
Polls aren’t a reflection of what team is better at any particular moment. there is some nuance to it and what if comes down to is how you see the team overall + resume. And With two losses (no matter who they were to) uga has a worse resume than Oklahoma.
Looking at the team overall, you think Oklahoma would beat UGA today?
Let’s be real…the reason UGA did not make the CFP was the LSU loss, not the Bama loss. Who cares what Saban ranked UGA? Win and you’re in……
Well Jax, they were ranked 4th after the LSU loss. They didn’t make the playoffs because they had the unfortunate situation of having to play the best team on the planet. Unlike the other contenders who didn’t.
As I said, the LSU loss kept UGA out, not the Bama loss. If both UGA and Bama come into Atlanta undefeated, I don’t see how UGA gets left out. My $.02
This same scenario is going to play out year after year. Maybe it will be UF and LSU next time instead of UGA and Bama. I think a lot of deserving SEC teams are going to be left out.
Why would you vote Oklahoma lower? Why give them any fuel before the big game. Trust me, the smallest of slights can be used to fire up your team, lack of respect is definately not a small thing…
Well probably after Kirby, the arrogant man he has turned into, ticked him off by mouthing off to the media, he changed his vote. He probably also realized that tua was injured the entire game and had he not been, it wouldn’t have been close. I mean, heck, jalen beat uga.
What is the deal with this stupid pop-up slide show. It will not go away.