Make Georgia #1 and then penalize them for playing a creampuff opponent even though you knew their schedule for months ahead. Yeah, that makes sense

SCOTT JACOBS

So let me get this straight: the Georgia Bulldogs were penalized for beating crappy Georgian Southern 45-21 in their opening game at Sanford Stadium, because USC went cross country and beat a mediocre Virginia team on the road? That’s fair. As if! Close your eyes Bulldog fans, this could get ugly!

How can you rank a team number one to start the year, and then drop them to number two because they won by 24? I have never in my life remembered a situation where a team dropped from number one, because they, uh, won their first game. Why even bother making Georgia the number one team in the first place if you plan on dropping them the first chance you get?

Why tease their fans with the chance to go wire to wire, when you plan on making them #2 for beating a team that they had on their schedule long in advance.

This isn’t about USC. They trounced an over-matched Virginia team. This isn’t about the walloping the Trojans put on a BCS conference school on the road. This is about Georgia. This is about the Bulldogs getting screwed.

The Dawgs have it tough enough with their road date at Arizona State and the brutal slate of games awaiting them in the SEC. Now they have to fight the voters who dismiss them as the top team because they didn’t absolutely hammer Georgia Southern?

If the game was close I could understand. But Georgia won handily, and they were number one. It just isn’t fair. Nor is it right.

If you’re going to have rankings, allow a team some breathing room. What was Georgia supposed to do, blank Georgia Southern 62-0? Would they be number one right now if that had happened? Or would they be number two still, because USC beat a crappy BCS school opponent that looked dreadful at best on Saturday?

I plain and simply do not think this is fair.

If USC beat a ranked team, fine. Let them leapfrog Georgia. But they beat some over-rated Cavaliers team that plays in a conference (The ACC) that has been miserable the last decade or so.

If you didn’t have any rankings before last week, and you wanted to start now, fine USC should be the choice. But don’t tag Georgia as the ahem, top Dawg, and then drop them down a peg for doing exactly what they were supposed to do.

In the realm of things this won’t matter. If Georgia losses one game, odds are, they’ll be playing for a national championship. But for argument’s sake, don’t make a team number one and then penalize them for something known long in advance.

Imagine a father trying to explain it to his son.

Son: Dad, why did the Dawgs fall to number two?
Father: Because they didn’t win by enough.
Son: But I thought winning was enough. Especially when you win by 24.
Father: I did too buddy. I did too. But apparently some just don’t agree. They’d rather confuse us, then help us. They’d rather disappoint us, rather then give us a chance.
Son: So the Dawgs are now number two because they won? But not by enough?
Father: That seems to be the logic.
Son: That’s about as stupid as trigonometry.
Father: I couldn’t agree more.

Whether rankings matter or not right now is a mute issue. If you’re going to have them, and they’re going to be taken seriously, stuff like this can’t happen.

USC may very well be the best team in the country. But you can’t claim that just because they beat Virginia more then UGA beat Georgia Southern. Not only is it stupid. It’s just plain ridiculous.

Court is adjourned.

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