Texas Football: Georgia’s College Football Playoff outcry squashed in Sugar Bowl

Any credible argument that the Georgia Bulldogs had to make it into the College Football Playoff field this year was silenced by Texas football.

Finding the answer for the Selection Committee for the College Football Playoff four-team field proved to be more difficult than just selecting the Georgia Bulldogs by the eye test following its SEC Championship Game loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide.

The College Football Playoff came under some scrutiny this year as to thefield that was selected, and the discussion surrounding expansion caught some real traction. While it looks as if College Football Playoff expansion to eight teams could pick up some steam very soon, there’s a few kinks to workout and things we need to understand about the postseason first.

Since it was first instituted, at least half of the College Football Playoff Semifinal games were blowouts, if not just concinving victories. We saw some of that transpire this year. That was the reason for the outcry from Georgia, and its fans, for the Playoff to either expand or just put them into the field in the first place. The merit for Georgia to make it into the Playoff wasn’t really there, but that also didn’t help prevent the push from the players and fans that this team was deserving.

Moreover, whatever the backing was for the Dawgs to come out flat in the Sugar Bowl, there’s very little excuse to get outplayed in multiple facets of the game. Texas football outclassed Georgia almost through and through. A late touchdown from the Dawgs, with less than 20 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter made the final score appear closer than the pace of play on the field dictated.

Texas controlled this game thoroughly, and showed that it was the perfect representative from the Big 12 to handle the tall task that was facing Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. Something the Horns didn’t get enough credit for was how well both sides of the ball matched up with a top tier team like Georgia. In terms of raw speed and athleticism, there’s not a single Big 12 team that matches up with the Dawgs better than the Horns.

Moreover, the Horns proved that it was a better match for Georgia on the stage of a New Year’s Six Bowl game compared to someone else like the Oklahoma Sooners. It’s difficult to compare Oklahoma and Texas in the different situations of last year’s Playoff Semifinal game and this year’s Sugar Bowl. The one factor that sticks out is that Oklahoma fell short against Georgia last year by a slim margin and Texas was able to take down that same opponent.

The emphasis of this victory for the Horns boils down to two thoughts and/or takeaways. One deals with the controversy of Georgia potentially lacking the motivation to play in the Sugar Bowl. The fact of the matter is that Georgia should’ve been ready to play and it would have been more competitive heading into the second half. For Texas, this win means that the off-season hype could be intense with the program’s first double-digit win season since 2009.

And, we’ll continue to watch as the College Football Playoff Selection Committee learns from any past mistakes within the next year or two. The Selection Committee definitely made the right decision by putting the Sooners and Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Semifinal games ahead of Georgia. Even the Ohio State Buckeyes showed it was more deserving of a Playoff spot than Georgia.