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Why Georgia landing in the top 5 of the AP Poll carries some weight

People love to say that polls don’t matter any more. And to a degree, that is true. The AP Poll used to play a role in determining who the eventual national champion was prior to the College Football Playoff’s inception. That isn’t the case anymore, as the College Football Playoff Committee determines the top four.

Now that we’re starting to get more and more data about the College Football Playoff, being ranked high in the initial AP Poll has been a decent indicator of who will be playing in the playoff come the end of the season.

In each of the four seasons, at least two teams ranked in the top-5 have made the playoff. It would be surprising if for four of Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Wisconsin and Ohio State missed this version of the playoff.

It’s also worth pointing out interesting that there have been more teams ranked outside of the top 10(four, including Georgia last year) to make the College Football Playoff than teams ranked in the 6 through 10 range.

Preseason rankings for College Football Playoff teams

2014: 1(Florida State), 2(Alabama, 3(Oregon), 5(Ohio State)

2015: 3(Alabama), 5(Michigan State), 12(Clemson), 19(Oklahoma)

2016: 1(Alabama), 2(Clemson), 6(Ohio State), 14(Washington)

2017: 1(Alabama), 5(Oklahoma), 7(Clemson), 15(Georgia)

Only two opponents on the schedule are ranked and it is both of Georgia’s SEC West foes as Auburn is ranked No. 9 and LSU is ranked No. 25.

Whether anyone wants to admit, perception carries a ton of weight in college football. Fans will be willing to give Georgia the benefit of the doubt this year given that they’ve proven they cane make the playoff, as highlighted by the fact that the No. 3 ranking is Georgia’s highest since 2008. Hopefully the 2018 season goes much better than that one did.

 Jake Fromm’s Heisman Trophy odds don’t matter

Jake Fromm had a nice first season. He certainly exceeded expectations given that most thought he would back-up Jacob Eason. He wasn’t asked to do much, and when he was he didn’t make a lot mistakes.

But now there are some folks that think Fromm is going to be a whole lot more than that. According to the Las Vegas Sportsbook, Fromm has 20-to-1 Heisman Trophy odds. There are only six players with better odds than that.

Fromm is in all likelihood going to be a better player than he was a year ago, even with the loss of Zamir White. But given that Georgia doesn’t run the high-powered that say a West Virginia or Arizona does, it’s tough to see Fromm putting up eye-popping numbers.

Georgia won’t need Fromm to put Heisman Trophy-type numbers to win games this year, like say Louisville did with Lamar Jackson or Oklahoma did with Baker Mayfield.

So if you want to put some money down on Fromm to win the Heisman Trophy, go ahead. But Georgia won’t need him to win it to get to the College Football Playoff and him winning doesn’t necessarily mean Georgia is playing for national championship.

Tom Crean lands his first big recruit

I know we’re still a ways away from the basketball, but Tom Crean picked up a big win yesterday in the recruiting trail.

Georgia landed a commitment from 4-star shooting guard Jaykwon Walton. The 6-foot-7 shooting guard hails from Montgomery, Alabama. He is the highest commitment Crean has gotten yet as he’s rated as the No. 59 overall player and the No. 7 shooting guard in the country.

Georgia basketball is going to need to land more players like Walton if it’s going to achieve the level of success Crean had at both Indiana and at Marquette.

Georgia basketball opens its 2018 season on Nov. 9 when it takes on Savannah State. Georgia will also have an exhibition game against West Georgia on Nov. 1.

Mark you calendars for Thursday

As the season inches closer, let’s not forget that Thursday you will have the chance to hang out with the DawgNation team and hear them discuss all things Georgia for the 2018 season.

Brandon Adams, Jeff Sentell and the rest of the DawgNation team will be at the Kroger on Bethelview Road in Cumming, Ga., next Thursday, Aug. 23 from 6-8 p.m. to preview the upcoming season. Come hang out and chat with the DawgNation experts, as they’ll also talk off air about everything Georgia Football.

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