Well, you don’t have to travel very far. Only two months back, in May, ESPN made a “wild prediction” that Kirby Smart’s Georgia would miss the College Football Playoff. The primary reason behind such speculation is Smart losing a combined 36 players to the transfer portal and the NFL draft this offseason. But look how the tables turned.
Smart’s Bulldogs are in the final month of their offseason and are gearing up for another run at the College Football Playoff and look to secure their third national title in three seasons. And here comes some motivational juice for them. According to On3’s Brett McMurphy, the Bulldogs are projected to be the sixth-ranked seed in this year’s College Football Playoff and will face the third-ranked Clemson Tigers in the Sugar Bowl. This, in turn, is going to help Smart to seal the Bulldogs’ name in history.
On July 1, the analyst came up with his ‘College Football Playoff Prediction’ and On3 posted it on IG. The post contains a chart with the headline “COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF PROJECTING 12-TEAM FIELD.” And in the middle, above ‘2025 CHAMPION’ one can find the Big ‘G’ symbol. So, according to McMurphy, Smart will add another Natty feather to his cap. But how is it going to be possible? As we are all aware, the College Football Playoff will introduce a 12-team playoff bracket for the 2024-25 season, expanding from the four-team format. Going by the new format, the five highest-ranked conference champions will receive automatic bids. The teams ranked No.1-No.4 will also be seeded Nos. 1-4 and receive a first-round bye. So, how will Smart’s Bulldogs’ luck favor in the long run?
Seeds 5-12 will play each other in the first round. The first-round matchups go like this: No. 5 vs. No. 12, No. 6 vs. No. 11, No. 7 vs. No. 10, No. 8 vs. No. 9. As per McMurphy’s prediction, No.5 Texas Longhorns will be facing off against No.4 Ohio State, and Oregon Ducks will be emerging as No.9, facing off against No.1 Notre Dame. On the other hand, No.6 Clemson will be facing off against Georgia, No.7 Alabama against No.2 Penn State Nittany Lions. So, where will Smart’s Bulldogs stand after this?
As per the projections, Georgia beats Clemson and Penn State in the quarterfinal and semifinal, respectively. Smart’s boys will then face off against Ohio State (No.4 seed) and will land Ryan Day’s Buckeyes a defeat, bringing home the Natty. Smart’s squad was recently listed as a team that should surpass its win total this season. According to YardBarker, the Dawgs are projected to surpass their threshold of 9.5 wins during the 2025 regular season. At a certain point, Smart’s luck is going to favor them.
After all, Georgia has a difficult slate ahead of it during the 2025 season, facing Alabama, Texas, Ole Miss, and others. But at the same time, they have the good fortune of playing the majority of their difficult games at home. As per the stats, Smart’s program is on a more than 30-game win streak at home and has not lost a game in Sanford Stadium since the 2019 season. However, before jumping into the 2025 season, Smart needs to figure out the answers to a couple of questions.
Analysts ring alarm bells for Kirby Smart
The analysts have spotted multiple red flags in the Bulldogs’ 2025 journey. First things first, the quarterback situation. With Carson Beck gone to Miami, Gunner Stockton is likely to do the honors of the starting quarterback. Here came a wake-up call for Smart. As analyst George Wrighster shared, “Oh, everybody’s screaming, ‘Gunner Stockton, what is he going to be?’ He’s a liability.” Well, we can understand where this came from. The quarterback started only once, in the Sugar Bowl loss, where he threw for 234 yards and a touchdown.
The lack of confidence surrounding Smart’s quarterback was then doubled down by Paul Finebaum. The SEC Network analyst did not mince his words while sharing, “I’m not confident in Gunner Stockton.” But what are the crucial factors that are stopping Smart’s quarterback from catching the hype train? Stockton isn’t a former five-star. Neither does the quarterback fit into the 6-foot-4 and 200-pound quarterback frame.
However, turns out that Kirby Smart is not quite worried about Gunner Stockton. After all, he has set out a protective net for his quarterback featuring five freshmen receivers in the 2025 class, including top-100 recruits Talyn Taylor and CJ Wiley. And that’s where Smart has hidden his secret weapon. As Dean Legge and Cole Cubelic pointed out, “We’ve been talking about Georgia’s wide receiver room basically the entire off-season. It’s loaded with talent. It’s deep, but there is a secret weapon in that room that I’m not sure Georgia fans are really expecting.” That’s none London Humphreys who carries with himself Ladd McConkey vibes. Will 2025 be the year Kirby Smart answers every question with a trophy?
The post Kirby Smart’s Georgia Projected to Win National Title in Early CFB Prediction—Here’s How appeared first on EssentiallySports.
