Smart: Georgia still among ‘the best four teams’
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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
ATLANTA — After No. 8 Alabama ended two-time defending national champion Georgia‘s 29-game winning streak, 27-24 in Saturday’s SEC championship game, Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart had a strong message for the College Football Playoff selection committee.
Smart has no doubt his No. 1-ranked Bulldogs are one of the four best teams in college football.
“Look, Bill Hancock said, ‘It’s not the most deserving,'” Smart said. “He said, simply, ‘it’s the best four teams.’ So you’re going to tell me somebody’s sitting in the committee room and doesn’t think that that Georgia team is not one of the best four teams?
“I’m not sure they’re in the right profession because it’s a really good football team, it’s a really talented football team, it’s a really balanced football team. They have to make that decision. But it’s the best four teams, and that’s critical.”
Smart was referring to the CFP executive director’s comments to reporters Tuesday, when Hancock dismissed the idea that the selection committee’s job is to pick the four most deserving teams, rather than the four best teams.
“I appreciate your asking that question,” Hancock said Tuesday. “It is best. Most deserving is not anything in the committee’s lexicon. They are to rank the best teams in order, and that’s what they do. Just keep that word in mind: best teams.”
For Smart, there’s no question the Bulldogs are among the four best teams. Georgia finished unbeaten in each of the past two regular seasons. It has won 45 of its past 47 games. This season, it defeated No. 9 Missouri 30-21 and No. 11 Ole Miss 52-17 at home and No. 21 Tennessee 38-10 on the road.
“I think it’s the eye test,” Smart said. “When you look at what we’ve done this season, to go on the road and the teams we beat and the teams that were in the top 20 that we were able to beat. I don’t know if this is right or not, but in the CFP era the team that goes in as (No. 1) I don’t think has fallen out of that.”
Smart is correct in that no No. 1 team in the penultimate CFP rankings fell out of the top four after losing on championship weekend.
“Not that history says anything, but when you talk about the four best teams, watch the game,” Smart said. “Go ask NFL talent evaluators. Go ask NFL scouts. It’s about the best teams, and I have no question that it’s not one of the four best teams, like 100 percent.”
Undoubtedly, Georgia is going to need help if it’s going to be picked by the CFP selection committee on Sunday. No. 3 Washington likely punched its playoff ticket by wrapping up a 13-0 season with a 34-31 victory against No. 5 Oregon in Friday night’s Pac-12 championship game.
No. 2 Michigan can also finish unbeaten by defeating No. 16 Iowa in Saturday night’s Big Ten championship game. The same goes for No. 4 Florida State, which is playing No. 14 Louisville in the ACC title game. An undefeated champion from a Power Five league has never been left out of the CFP.
If either the Wolverines or Seminoles fall, Georgia would have an argument as one of best one-loss teams. So would Alabama and Texas, which upset the Crimson Tide 34-24 on the road Sept. 9 and took down No. 18 Oklahoma State 49-21 in the Big 12 championship game. The Tide and Longhorns captured conference championships, which is something the Bulldogs’ didn’t win.
“I don’t know the history of the other years,” Smart said. “It seems like this is the year that it should be the four best teams because you can make a case for ‘deserving’ for everybody. It’s unfortunate that these kids who give so much and play so hard-and not just at Georgia, all these schools-they don’t get to decide it really on the field. It’s sitting back with a committee who is going to determine who the four best teams are. If it’s truly the four best teams then let’s put the four best teams in.”
The SEC has never been left out of the CFP. The Bulldogs and Crimson Tide have both made the playoff in two previous seasons in 2017 and 2021. Alabama beat Georgia 26-23 in overtime in the CFP National Championship after the 2017 season. The Bulldogs defeated the Tide 33-18 after the 2021 season to end a 41-year drought without a national championship.
“Look at our teams in the playoffs and look at what they’ve done,” Smart said. “Y’all tell me the record of the SEC teams in the playoffs. It’s pretty spectacular. I know twice that two of them ended up playing each other. Who are the best teams?”
Of course, Georgia could have ended the debate by beating the Tide on the field Saturday. The Bulldogs made too many mistakes, blowing a defensive assignment on Alabama’s first touchdown, missing a 49-yard field goal after a false-start penalty and losing a fumble at their own 11-yard line, which led to a Tide field goal.
“You go through an SEC schedule, 12 games, and to win each and every one, this is not something easy to do,” Bulldogs quarterback Carson Beck said. “It’s not easy, but I’m proud of these guys. Obviously, to come into this game and not finish the way that we wanted to and kind of leave the destiny of our team in someone else’s hands rather than us handling it ourselves, that’s hard. I thought throughout the season we showed we were a really dominant team.”
But Georgia’s first loss in 728 days — it hadn’t fallen since losing to Alabama 41-24 in the 2021 SEC championship game — might end up pushing them out of the playoff.
“We didn’t win, so I mean that’s the bottom line,” Georgia center Sedrick Van Pran said. “We had our opportunity to make our case and we didn’t. We didn’t win the game. Whether or not they put us in is up to them. We’ll respect their decision either way.”
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Greg Wyshynski
After the New Jersey Devils saw their season end in double overtime Tuesday night, goaltender Jacob Markstrom wanted to express his frustration via his stick. He thought about boomeranging it to the boards. Instead, he swung it hard against his goalpost, breaking it in half.
Sebastian Aho‘s goal at 4:17 of the second overtime in Game 5 gave the Carolina Hurricanes a 5-4 win and a 4-1 series victory over the Devils. It was the first puck Markstrom had fly by him in 37 consecutive shots on goal, dating to the second period. That included 18 saves he made in overtime, as Carolina marauded a short-handed and exhausted Devils defense but couldn’t solve the 35-year-old goalie.
“That was one of the better goaltending performances that I’ve witnessed,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Markstrom, who finished with 49 saves. “He let in a few early that he’d like to have back. But once he got dialed in, you’re thinking it’ll have to bank off somebody, because we’re not beating him.”
Markstrom’s frustration wasn’t just with the overtime goal. The Devils built a 3-0 lead in the first period. Carolina scored three times in the first 5:40 of the second period to erase it. New Jersey responded with a Nico Hischier goal, only to have Aho knot the score at 4 moments later.
“We put up four goals on the road,” Markstrom said. “We should have brought it home. It should have been enough.”
But as his teammates noted, Markstrom’s effort in the overtimes should have been enough to win Game 5.
“We were under siege. He was outstanding. We were reeling,” coach Sheldon Keefe said.
“He played unbelievable. Marky kept us in that first overtime,” Hischier said. “I feel bad for him because he battled his ass off.”
Markstrom was acquired by the Devils last offseason in a high-profile deal with the Calgary Flames that was intended to fix the team’s goaltending, which ranked 30th in 2023-24. He won 26 times in 49 games with a .900 save percentage and a 2.50 goals-against average. He was outstanding, for the most part, in the playoffs: .911 save percentage and a 2.78 goals-against average in five games.
But Markstrom couldn’t overcome two things in the postseason for the Devils. The first were their injuries. Already without star center Jack Hughes, who had season-ending shoulder surgery, the Devils saw defensemen Luke Hughes, Johnathan Kovacevic and Brenden Dillon leave the series with injuries, with defensemen Jonas Siegenthaler and Dougie Hamilton playing at less than 100%.
“We had a few guys go down in the series. A few guys step up and battle. We’ve got to get better. We don’t like the result,” forward Timo Meier said.
The other factor was the Devils special teams. Their power play was officially 0-for-15. Their penalty kill allowed six goals on 19 Carolina power plays.
“That’s why we lost the series for sure. We couldn’t get the power play going. That’s on those guys, including me, that are on the ice. That’s definitely frustrating,” Hischier said.
But the Devils gutted out the series, pushing Carolina to double overtime in an elimination game despite those deficiencies.
“There’s a lot of will in this room,” Markstrom said. “It sucks right now.”
ARLINGTON, Texas — Everything came together in the same game for two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom and the Texas Rangers batters.
Texas had a much-needed offensive breakout while deGrom struck out seven over six scoreless innings for his first win in more than two years, though he had pitched well enough to win in several other starts this season.
“When was the last one, ’23? Yeah, it’s been a while,” deGrom said after the Rangers’ 15-2 win over the Athletics on Tuesday night.
“He earned it. He had great stuff tonight, he kept us on our toes,” second baseman Marcus Semien said. “We were just talking about how the time of possession was. You know, we were hitting for a long time and he’s getting quick outs. So usually that’s a good recipe.”
The 36-year-old deGrom (1-1) had gone 737 days since also beating the A’s on April 23, 2023, then made only one more start in his debut season with Texas before Tommy John surgery.
He scattered four singles and didn’t walk a batter in a 65-pitch outing (47 strikes). It was only that short since the right-hander didn’t return after an eight-run outburst in the Rangers sixth that matched their previous season high for runs in an entire game and put them up 12-0.
So just how efficient was deGrom? The right-hander honestly thought he was “probably in the 70s or something to 80,” as did catcher Jonah Heim.
“A lot a strikeouts that I feel like he just overpowered a lot of hitters, which is who he is. He’s got that electric fastball,” Heim said.
“My mechanics were pretty good,” said deGrom, a meticulous worker who was feeling good after a side session the day before the game. “I’m constantly trying to perfect it and get in the best positions that I can get based on performance and health.”
Texas entered the night last in the majors with 91 runs scored, and only 12 combined the previous six games. DeGrom had gotten only nine runs of support in his first five starts.
The Rangers snapped a three-game losing streak while setting season highs for runs, hits (18) and walks (nine). They had three bases-clearing doubles in the same game for the first time in team history – Adolis García and Wyatt Langford each had one during a four-batter stretch in that big sixth, and Kyle Higashioka added his three-run double in the eighth.
Their offensive outburst came after the full squad was required to be on the field for batting practice before the game.
“Good to see you guys break out and have a good game. … Some success, it’s contagious,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “You’re hoping this is something these guys can build on, build some confidence.”
For deGrom, he improved to 3-1 with a 2.55 ERA in his 15 starts for the Rangers since signing a $185 million, five-year contract in December 2022. He is 85-58 in 224 career starts, the first 209 with the New York Mets from 2014-2022.
“He was really good tonight. You know, I said when season started, it’s just going to get better with him as he builds up his strength and stamina,” Bochy said. “Really good command tonight, really good stuff. And it’s just getting better with him.”
BALTIMORE — The New York Yankees became the first team in major league history to open a game with three consecutive home runs more than once in a season when Trent Grisham, Aaron Judge and Ben Rice went deep off Baltimore‘s Kyle Gibson in the first inning Tuesday night.
New York started the bottom of the first of its March 29 game against Milwaukee with three homers in a row. In that game, Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger and Judge needed only three pitches to hit three homers.
The Yankees added a fourth home run later in the first inning of both that game and Tuesday’s game, making them the first team to belt four in the first inning twice in a season.
On Tuesday night, the Yankees hit three of the game’s first five offerings out to right field.
“Grish got it going for us and set the tone for us early on,” Judge said after the 15-3 win. “When he goes up there and … sends one to Eutaw Street, it’s pretty impressive and gets you going.”
It was an ugly return to the majors for the 37-year-old Gibson, who made 30 starts for the St. Louis Cardinals last season before Baltimore signed him to a $5.25 million, one-year contract in late March. He’d been working in the minors since then before being called up before Tuesday’s game. He was finally pulled with two outs in the fourth after allowing nine runs and 11 hits.
“He gave up four homers in the first inning. That’s kind of a telling sign,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “At that point I’m just trying to figure out how we’re going to get through the game.”
After Rice’s home run made it 3-0, Gibson retired Goldschmidt on a grounder before Bellinger also homered. Anthony Volpe‘s RBI double made it 5-0 before the first inning was over.
Rice homered again in the second to make it 6-0. Austin Wells hit New York’s final home run — all six came with nobody on — with two outs in the ninth.
“It just shows that we’ve got a lot of depth in the lineup,” Rice said.
Not all the news was great for the Yankees, however. Jazz Chisholm Jr. left the game with right flank discomfort in the first inning.
Chisholm, who is hitting .181 with seven home runs this season, appeared to have hurt himself while he was batting. After being checked on, he stayed at the plate and hit a double, advancing to third on an error by right fielder Ramon Laureano.
Chisholm said he wasn’t worried about needing to go on the injured list.
“I’m really not as concerned as everybody else,” Chisholm said. “I tore my oblique before. I know it’s not torn or anything.”
The Associated Press and ESPN Research contributed to this report.
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