Back at No. 1, Georgia looks to stay on top in SEC clash against Missouri

The last time Georgia was atop the rankings, the Bulldogs got a stunning reality check.

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No. 1 doesn’t mean much if you can’t back it up on the field.

Coming off perhaps its most impressive win of the season, Georgia (8-1, 6-1 SEC, No. 1 CFP) is riding high again as it prepares to host Missouri on Saturday.

Yet there’s the lingering memory of what happened just four weeks ago, when the Bulldogs were newly anointed as college football’s top team and heading into a game between the hedges that wasn’t expected to be much of a challenge.

When it was done, Auburn — a three-touchdown underdog — was celebrating a 27-24 upset that turned Georgia’s last reign at No. 1 into one (week) and done.

“The ranking means nothing,” coach Kirby Smart said. “We don’t really get into the highs and the lows and the roller coaster rides that you guys (in the media) go on. We don’t. I don’t mean that to be negative. We just try to stay as even-keeled as we can and just keep getting our roster better.”

Fortunately for the Bulldogs, and every other powerhouse program, a loss can quickly be shoved in the rearview mirror in today’s 12-team (and soon to be 24-team ) playoff world.

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Georgia picked itself up after the Auburn shocker, dominating Florida 27-8 ahead of last week’s 42-7 blowout of Mississippi in Oxford.

Just like that, the Dawgs are back at No. 1.

Missouri is heading in the opposite direction. The Tigers (6-3, 3-3, No. 22 CFP) slipped out of The Associated Press rankings after a 34-20 home loss to Texas a weekend ago.

Multiple calls went against Mizzou in its latest setback, prompting athletic director Laird Veatch to ask the Southeastern Conference for “a formal review” of the officiating. Most notable was a disputed fumble that gave the Longhorns a first down, setting up a tying touchdown in the third quarter. Texas added two more touchdowns to put the game away.

Coach Eli Drinkwitz stressed that the Tigers weren’t making excuses.

“We had our opportunities and we didn’t execute,” said Drinkwitz, whose team is a 15 1/2-point underdog against Georgia. “We are not victims, and I refuse to give in to being-a-victim mentality. I refuse to give our players, our fans, our coaches an excuse for not getting the job done.”

Deadeye Gunner

Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton is again being mentioned as a Heisman Trophy contender after his big game against Ole Miss.

Stockton threw for 186 yards and four touchdowns and ran for another in the rout of the Rebels. For the season, he is completing nearly 71% of his passes for 1,857 yards, with 20 TDs and four interceptions. He also has rushed for 233 yards and two scores.

“Explosive player,” offensive lineman Dontrell Glover marveled.

Run, Tigers, run

Jamal Roberts is the SEC’s leading rusher at 119 yards per game, and 2025 standout Ahmad Hardy has returned to the field in a limited role after recovering from a gunshot wound.

They’ll be facing a stout Georgia defense that is surrendering just 83.8 rushing yards on average, the best figure in the conference.

Ole Miss and Texas — two of the teams that defeated the Tigers — were able to hold Roberts under 70 yards, which will surely be a goal of the Bulldogs.

“They’ve got a really good running back,” Georgia safety Khalil Barnes said. “Ahmad Hardy obviously hasn’t played that much this year, but we know what he is, and we know everything that he can bring to the table.”

Emulating UGA

Georgia is the program that Drinkwitz points to as he tries to build the Tigers into a championship contender.

The Bulldogs have won a pair of national titles during the decade-long Smart era and are a perennial playoff contender.

“They’re the benchmark for the league right now in the way that Coach Smart runs his program, the philosophical identity that he has in offense, defense, and special teams, the way his team plays consistently down in and down out,” Drinkwitz said. “It’s what everybody in our conference is chasing.”

End of an era

Smart has always been a big fan of the SEC championship game, which the Bulldogs have reached eight of the last nine seasons.

But the conference title games are going away after this season to make way for the 24-team playoff, a development that didn’t draw much reaction from the Georgia coach.

“We all kind of knew,” Smart said. “Times are changing. As they change, you have to adapt to it.”

Drinkwitz was more critical of the decision to dump the conference title games for an expanded playoff.

“Why are we associated with conferences anymore if we’re not playing for a conference championship?” he said. “We’ve devalued some of the things that made college football so special.”

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