The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Release of CFP rankings is not on Smart’s radar
‘Not curious,’ coach says before Georgia checks in at No. 6.
ATHENS — Speaking about 30 minutes before the first College Football Playoff rankings were set to be released, Georgia coach Kirby Smart expressed no interest in the report and even said he was unaware of ESPN’s Tuesday evening telecast.
“I didn’t even know it was tonight,” he said. “I didn’t realize that was going on. I should have talked to our team about that, but I didn’t bring it up to them. Who knows what they’ll be thinking tonight?
“I’m not curious at all. We all know the end is what matters, and if you get caught in that, you’ll fall pretty quick, if you get caught up in it. The bottom line is that every team that’s in there, if they win they’re in because a lot of them are going to play each other.”
Not surprisingly, Georgia — which last year was the No. 1 team for two weeks before losing to Auburn — was ranked sixth in the season’s inaugural ratings, behind No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Clemson, No. 3 LSU, No. 4 Notre Dame and No. 5 Michigan. The Bulldogs also are No. 6 in this week’s Associated Press poll.
Kentucky, which the Bulldogs face at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, was ranked No. 9.
When asked what he would have told the team had he remembered to address it, Smart said, “Be wary of postings and hype and all the stuff that’s involved with it. It’s really just a distraction. The older ones heard it last year, and I know all them will see it and pay attention to it. … But it doesn’t matter.
“It has no effect at all. What matters is how you play. If you want to impress those guys, go play well.”
After confirming Georgia’s spot in the playoff scenario, linebacker Monty Rice declined to say much, and linebacker Tae Crowder selected his words carefully, maintaining the party line.
“We just try to stay away from it,” Crowder said. “I don’t really pay attention to the rankings or whatever. We don’t try to get into all that. … We keep up with it but we try not to watch it, or just stay away from it.”
Big Ben back? Sophomore right guard Ben Cleveland, who has been out since the Missouri game with a broken left fibula, has been observed the past two days working with the second-team offensive line, and Smart appeared optimistic that he would soon be back in action, perhaps as early as Saturday at Kentucky.
“He’s been sore because he hasn’t done the weight-bearing — the running, the hitting, the pads,” Smart said Tuesday. “So what’s happening is he’s out there and he’s able to practice, but he gets sore and the next day it’s like starting over again.
“We think he’s going to be able to help us, but I don’t know that he’ll be out there starting.
Short yards: Perhaps temporarily overlooked in the joy of a big SEC victory Saturday against Florida was Georgia’s dismal six-play effort to cross into the end zone from the Gators’ 1-yard line in the final minutes of the third quarter.
Although the Bulldogs were able to keep the possession (it would be hard to call it a drive) alive thanks to three Florida penalties, starting out at first-and-goal from the 1-yard line and coming out of it with three points was — to say the least — disappointing.
When asked about his concerns about Georgia’s short-yardage situations, Smart said, “The first thing I would say is we haven’t been real good on short-yardage defense either.
“When you look at it, thirdand-1s haven’t been our flavor on either side of the ball and haven’t been as successful as we would like to be. I think it comes with a combination of things. … Thirdand-short is what you should want to be in from an offensive perspective. Not defensively, but we gotta do a better job executing in those.”
While noting he felt Florida deserved notice for its goal-line stand, tight end Isaac Nauta was confident the Bulldogs would be knocking down the wall soon.
“We’ll get better at that,” Nauta said. “(Florida) did a good job. We’ll put together a new plan this week and put in some new plays and make sure we get in the end zone next time for sure.”