For the second year in a row, the College Football Playoff selection committee has to consider the health of a starting quarterback as it sets the field.
But the circumstances surrounding Georgia quarterback Carson Beck’s injury in Saturday’s SEC title game are different from the injury to Florida State’s Jordan Travis last year.
The Bulldogs entered the weekend fifth in the selection committee’s rankings before beating the No. 2 Longhorns 19-16 in overtime on Saturday. Though the CFP does not guarantee a spot for any specific conference’s champion, five are locked into the field in the expanded, 12-team format. It’s impossible to envision Georgia winning the SEC and dropping below the expected first conference champion out — No. 24 Army, which beat unranked Tulane on Friday to win the AAC.
In fact, it’s just about impossible to envision Georgia being anything lower than the No. 2 seed when the final field is revealed, likely behind the winner of No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 3 Penn State in Saturday night’s Big Ten title game and ahead of Boise State and the ACC champion.
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A year ago, the committee dropped Florida State just one spot, from fourth to fifth, in the final rankings after it beat No. 14 Louisville for the ACC title. Alabama rose from eighth to fourth after beating Georgia for the SEC championship. That gave the Crimson Tide the final spot in the four-team field.
Though the situations have some similarities, there are key differences in how they fit into one of the committee’s criteria: “Other relevant factors such as unavailability of key players and coaches that may have affected a team’s performance during the season or likely will affect its postseason performance.”
Because Travis’ gruesome leg injury was going to sideline him for months, FSU’s postseason performance would obviously be affected. The specifics and severity of Beck’s injury aren’t immediately clear. Georgia coach Kirby Smart told reporters after the game that Beck has an “upper extremity injury” and will undergo an MRI, adding that “it looked OK but he didn’t have grip strength and couldn’t throw.”
That means the committee will likely be setting the field Sunday without certainty on the possible absence of a key player. Would the committee want to punish the Bulldogs because of an injury that might not affect Beck’s status for Georgia’s first game? With a bye, Georgia won’t play again until the quarterfinals on Jan. 1.
Another significant difference is the performance of their replacements. After the committee left the Seminoles out of the field last year, then-chairperson Boo Corrigan said Travis’ injury was a factor that “in the eyes of the committee changed them as a team.”
The results backed him up. In Travis’ 10 full games, the Seminoles averaged 6.8 yards per play, 444.8 yards per game and 38.3 points. In the two full games without him — against Florida and Louisville in the ACC championship — Florida State averaged 3.6 yards per play, 222 yards per game and 20 points. The Seminoles’ 16 points in the ACC title game were their fewest of the season.
Neither of Travis’ backups, veteran Tate Rodemaker and three-star freshman Brock Glenn, threw a touchdown pass in their two starts before the Playoff field was set. Travis completed 64 percent of his passes in his 10 full games; Rodemaker and Glenn were 20-of-47 against the Gators and Cardinals.
The sample size is smaller but more encouraging with Georgia and its backup, Gunner Stockton, a former four-star recruit.
The Bulldogs averaged almost twice as many yards per play Saturday with Stockton at quarterback (4.9) than with Beck (2.6). Georgia scored on three of Stockton’s five second-half drives, including his first (a 10-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a Trevor Etienne touchdown rush). Stockton also led the overtime drive until he had to sit out a play because he lost his helmet; Beck entered and handed the ball off to Etienne for the winning score.
Stockton finished 12-of-16 for 71 yards and an interception. Beck was 7-of-13 for 56 yards.
Florida State would have made the Playoff last year if the bracket had 12 teams then. Georgia has no such concerns about being left out.
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(Photo of Carson Beck and Kirby Smart: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)
