Bill Connelly ($$) ranked all 32 teams that have played in the CFP, by this set of criteria:
I derived this list, as I usually do, through a combination of numbers (primarily, my SP+ ratings) and my personal opinions. Start with the stats, then adjust for actual CFP performance and any other criteria that feels relevant.
Your current national champs are fourth on his list, the highest ranked team that didn’t finish undefeated.
4. 2021 Georgia (14-1)
CFP result: Beat Michigan 34-11; beat Alabama 33-18Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs were far and away the best team of the season’s first three months, combining steady and efficient offense with college football’s most consistently dominant defense in years. Only Bama scored more than 17 points on the Dawgs, who lost to the Tide in the SEC championship game but rebounded to pen a happy ending and, with help from a game-clinching Kelee Ringo pick-six, win their first national title in 41 years.
That doesn’t suck.
Get The Picture 
This defense was the equivalent of the LSU 2019 offense. That LSU team was the inverse of this year’s Georgia team. They played great complementary football led by the offense with a defense that was underrated.
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I’m guessing that 1, 2, and 3 are (in some order) 2020 Bama, 2019 LSU, and 2018 Clemson?
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In that order, as a matter of fact.
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I’d argue flipping the top 2 because of the weirdness of the “COVID season” in 2020. Bama was dominant, but LSU was just as dominant in more normal circumstances in CFB.
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It would be interesting to see the 2020 Bama team play the 2019 LSU team. Bama pretty much bludgeoned everyone in 2020 other than the 6 point win over UF in the SECCG. 2019 LSU beat almost everyone on their schedule by three touchdowns or more except for UF at home (14 points…35-28 at end of 3rd Q and LSU scored a TD in the 4th to make it 42-28), Bama on the road (5 points), and Auburn at home (3 points).
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You mean the most epic 6-point moral loss in the history of the sport? FIFY, Milton.
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Well the Bammer’s are not going to like that at all… According to them, UGA is the weakest team to win a Natty… LOL
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It was hard for them to contort themselves into such pretzel like shapes while arguing that UGA was worst team ever and yet only beat them because they had every scholarship player in a body cast. For a team with so much success, Alabama is one insecure fan-base.
FWIW, I think the flu that ravaged UGA SECCG week may have been a bigger story. Boy did we look lethargic that game, and not just because we were going got the CFP anyway. We just were slow everywhere.
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I still say we may have dodged a bullet with Baylor’s goal line stand against Ok State.
“Alabama is one insecure fan base.”
Can’t you say that about everything related to the entire state?
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Ok state was only going in if we beat bama in atl AND they won the big 12. As neither happened…
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I’m glad the hats in Grapevine didn’t have to make that choice of a 1-loss conference champion vs. a 1-loss conference championship game loser. Just my opinion, but I don’t trust the committee.
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Is it that we don’t/can’t trust the committee or that Mickey controls the marionette committee plus the tv schedule (all those nooners)…GO DAWGS!
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Glad we will never know.
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Not to diminish the national championship but I think there’s been so much focus on UGA getting over the Bama / NC hump that it’s almost an afterthought that the only teams on our schedule not to lose by at least 2 TDs were Clemson and Bama, round 1 then Bama suffered the same fate in the championship game. That’s pure domination plain and simple. It’s almost forgotten that we just curb stomped #2 Michigan.
Oh and we did it playing what would have been our preseason second string offense which was still good for #9 in the nation in scoring offense (38.6ppg) and #25 in total offense (443 ypg) and an extremely efficient #4 in ypp (6.98). Imagine what we could have done with Pickens, Washington, Blaylock, ratledge, Jackson, Burton and Arian Smith for the whole year.
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Average margin of victory was 28 points, including the loss in the seccg, wow
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Glad you mentioned Arian Smith. Haven’t about 60% of his catches been 50-yd TDs?
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pretty dumb to rank the 2017 bama team ten spots higher than the 2017 georgia team.
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Yeah, that does not compute at all.
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Dawgrading, Piper. It’s a thing.
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Sore loser Bama fans, ‘turds, hillbillies, Suckeyes fans and more are not going to like that as I keep hearing them claim how we’re the weakest champion in 20 years.
Weirdly, I can’t help but feel that the two Suckeyes teams are probably pretty low on this list (don’t pay for ESPN+ so if anyone else wants to let us know where other teams are on the list…) as they won more as a matter of luck and not dominance with a lot of NFL talent.
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If (yes, I know what word means :)) we had beaten Alabama in Atlanta in December and had finished 15-0, this team would be mentioned in the same breath with some of truly great teams of all time.
Even the advanced stats show this is one of the best teams of the BCS/CFP era, so to all of the Bammers, Handbags, Hillbillies, Bugs/Nerds, etc., get over it because you don’t have your “1980” to throw in our face any more.
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As a final comment, Fred in Alabama, be a man and accept the fact your team got beaten. We accept that the Tide won the SEC and had an excellent season. We look forward to seeing you
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Are you suggesting that Fred walk upright?
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Finebaum should have asked Fred how much he bet on the game. Alabama and points, he probably bet the house on Bama.
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*trailer.
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But I’ve seen and heard so many fans of opposing bases claim this was the weakest champion of the last decade or so.
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Auburn went to the spread with Tony Franklin and has more less stuck with it until now. The less was the year that saw Chizik fired. The reason Auburn went spread is they saw you don’t out Bama, Bama when Bama is rolling. Bama is now the spread team.
What scares Bammers is, 2021 UGA out Bama’d Bama, Bama is a team with red zone rushing problems and a secondary that gives up plays due to miscommunication in the secondary more often than any good Bama team should.
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Yeah, Bama is going to have a good team again next season but so will we. I like our chances against them and would love to kick their ass 2 or 3 times just so they will know there’s a new sheriff in town.
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If you take a peek at our schedule in 2022 and Alabama’s schedule next year, you could very easily see a repeat of the 2021 regular season.
Our most difficult games (on paper at least) are the two neutral site games – Oregon and UF. After Florida, our next two most difficult conference opponents are likely Auburn & Tennessee who both come to Athens. Our most difficult road game? Kentucky? Miss St? USCe? CoMo? We will be favored in every game next year. We have the talent to go 12-0 again.
Alabama will most likely start the year at #1 and be favored every week. However, they have road games in Austin, Fayetteville, Knoxville, and then Baton Rouge and Oxford on back-to-back weeks. They are still the standard for CFB (it’s well-deserved) and a win over them (especially for an SEC West team) is the ultimate single game prize. It will be a tough stretch of road games even for them. They could drop a game.
The 2022 SEC game could be a sequel to 2021.
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Still on cloud 9 on a natty high. Keep this stuff going, keep feeding it. We beat 6 of 7 ranked & 3 of top 5. We earned the hell outta this ring, big time. Epic year & start to CFBs next dynasty.
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After leading Georgia to a National Championship, quarterback Stetson Bennett has announced his return for another season.
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Fine by me…
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My LSU buddy asked me about Hankton. When I used the phrase “lateral move” he replied “How cute we think it’s a lateral move after winning just our first NC this century”.
Ouch…that kind of hurt.
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Fucking Coonass.
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I think the proper response is “2019 you corn-dog infested cajun”
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Moving from a 14-1 National Championship team to a 6-7 loser of the TaxAct Texas Bowl/Kansas St and also went 1-4 against teams Georgia beat the Dawg shit out of is not a lateral move. It’s slumming. A big step down. She can drink a big ol cup of shut the fuck up, the loser. All those pickled jalapeno suppositories has fried her mind. 2019 was a long time ago.
Georgia Bulldogs 2021 National Champions.
WE RUN THIS NATION !!
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