On Georgia being so far behind Texas:
“Well, obviously Georgia has a very good win at Texas, but as the committee analyzed the body of work of Texas versus where Georgia is at the present time with two losses, even to top-25 teams, we came out that Texas was still a very strong team deserving of a 3 seed. They have a top-5 defense. Quinn Ewers is leading one of the top passing offenses in the country. … It's nothing against Georgia. Georgia is a great team, but they did struggle against Ole Miss at Ole Miss but had a great win this past week against Tennessee. We will continue to monitor both teams and see how it goes in the next few weeks.”
Manuel also says the committee “had a long debate” about Georgia, Ole Miss, Miami and Alabama in particular. “It was very, very thorough. We're dealing with very small margins in terms of the different things that we're looking at and comparing, so I can assure you the committee went through it intensely in the last couple of days.”
On why Tennessee is ranked lower than the other SEC teams:
"Well, one, they just had a loss to Georgia, and they had the loss at Arkansas. It's really splitting hairs. They have great offense, great defense. They play hard. The committee just had a hard time. You're talking about four really good teams, when you look at Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee. I think the committee, we debated it, as I said earlier, quite a bit as it came down to how we saw those teams. But they have beaten each other at different times. So we have to look at Alabama the last three games, particularly the two before they played Mercer, they won in dominant fashion, and we were really impressed with their win at LSU two weeks ago. It is close. There's a lot of conversations. We'll continue to monitor the performance of all these teams as the season progresses towards the end."
On why Ole Miss moved up 2 spots on a bye week:
"Well, part of it was the loss by BYU and Tennessee that were ahead of them. The other part is they really did perform -- they had a great performance against Georgia, as you know, and really dominant on both sides of the ball in that win. For the most part, we've been impressed with Jaxson Dart. We've been impressed with their defense and how they have performed. Two close losses to Kentucky and LSU. We've been impressed with them, and I think they really moved up because they performed well and the teams ahead of them have had losses."
On UGA being at 10 despite having more notable wins than other teams:
"Yeah, I mean, it's hard as we look at all of these teams. They're playing different schedules. It's not the fault of one team who doesn't have a stronger schedule who they're playing in their conference opponents. These conferences have increased in size, and so there are less match-ups where you are matching the top teams in the league each weekend. So it does make it difficult to assess the teams even with the strength of schedule. We have to rely on how the teams are playing and who they're playing as well as how the other teams, regardless of strength of schedule, are playing their opponents. We take a look at it holistically. Strength of schedule is a component. It's an important data point to us and for us. But it is not the only assessment that we make. But Georgia, they had a great game this week against Tennessee, and we will continue to look at them as they progress in this season. Then there is also the possibility of being in the championship game. They perform well -- then when you look at it, the last thing I'll say is Georgia is behind Alabama and Ole Miss, and they've had head to head losses against those teams. It's one of those things where we try to assess everything and come to a decision about where the teams are ranked."
On Alabama being behind Penn State even though PSU lost its only big game and Alabama has more quality wins:
"Well, it is a part of the discussion, and if you're in the room, you would see that that is a considerable aspect of the discussion about how to evaluate each team, given that they're playing different schedules and who's in front of them in any given week. There's a lot of discussion about the variables, strength of schedule, who they're playing, where teams are ranked, where they're playing; are they home, are they away. There's all kind of things that we talk about and look at and debate and discuss as it relates to that. So it's not cut and dry. If it was about just strength of schedule, the rankings probably would look much different. But because we have the evaluation process, because we see how teams are playing, and all they can do is play who's in front of them, and then the committee has to deliberate and make a decision based on what we see in the results of the games and how they proceed. It's not easy. It's not something that we take lightly. It's something that we understand is a key part of the discussion process and something that we value and really take a hard look at in terms of strength of schedule."
“Well, obviously Georgia has a very good win at Texas, but as the committee analyzed the body of work of Texas versus where Georgia is at the present time with two losses, even to top-25 teams, we came out that Texas was still a very strong team deserving of a 3 seed. They have a top-5 defense. Quinn Ewers is leading one of the top passing offenses in the country. … It's nothing against Georgia. Georgia is a great team, but they did struggle against Ole Miss at Ole Miss but had a great win this past week against Tennessee. We will continue to monitor both teams and see how it goes in the next few weeks.”
Manuel also says the committee “had a long debate” about Georgia, Ole Miss, Miami and Alabama in particular. “It was very, very thorough. We're dealing with very small margins in terms of the different things that we're looking at and comparing, so I can assure you the committee went through it intensely in the last couple of days.”
On why Tennessee is ranked lower than the other SEC teams:
"Well, one, they just had a loss to Georgia, and they had the loss at Arkansas. It's really splitting hairs. They have great offense, great defense. They play hard. The committee just had a hard time. You're talking about four really good teams, when you look at Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee. I think the committee, we debated it, as I said earlier, quite a bit as it came down to how we saw those teams. But they have beaten each other at different times. So we have to look at Alabama the last three games, particularly the two before they played Mercer, they won in dominant fashion, and we were really impressed with their win at LSU two weeks ago. It is close. There's a lot of conversations. We'll continue to monitor the performance of all these teams as the season progresses towards the end."
On why Ole Miss moved up 2 spots on a bye week:
"Well, part of it was the loss by BYU and Tennessee that were ahead of them. The other part is they really did perform -- they had a great performance against Georgia, as you know, and really dominant on both sides of the ball in that win. For the most part, we've been impressed with Jaxson Dart. We've been impressed with their defense and how they have performed. Two close losses to Kentucky and LSU. We've been impressed with them, and I think they really moved up because they performed well and the teams ahead of them have had losses."
On UGA being at 10 despite having more notable wins than other teams:
"Yeah, I mean, it's hard as we look at all of these teams. They're playing different schedules. It's not the fault of one team who doesn't have a stronger schedule who they're playing in their conference opponents. These conferences have increased in size, and so there are less match-ups where you are matching the top teams in the league each weekend. So it does make it difficult to assess the teams even with the strength of schedule. We have to rely on how the teams are playing and who they're playing as well as how the other teams, regardless of strength of schedule, are playing their opponents. We take a look at it holistically. Strength of schedule is a component. It's an important data point to us and for us. But it is not the only assessment that we make. But Georgia, they had a great game this week against Tennessee, and we will continue to look at them as they progress in this season. Then there is also the possibility of being in the championship game. They perform well -- then when you look at it, the last thing I'll say is Georgia is behind Alabama and Ole Miss, and they've had head to head losses against those teams. It's one of those things where we try to assess everything and come to a decision about where the teams are ranked."
On Alabama being behind Penn State even though PSU lost its only big game and Alabama has more quality wins:
"Well, it is a part of the discussion, and if you're in the room, you would see that that is a considerable aspect of the discussion about how to evaluate each team, given that they're playing different schedules and who's in front of them in any given week. There's a lot of discussion about the variables, strength of schedule, who they're playing, where teams are ranked, where they're playing; are they home, are they away. There's all kind of things that we talk about and look at and debate and discuss as it relates to that. So it's not cut and dry. If it was about just strength of schedule, the rankings probably would look much different. But because we have the evaluation process, because we see how teams are playing, and all they can do is play who's in front of them, and then the committee has to deliberate and make a decision based on what we see in the results of the games and how they proceed. It's not easy. It's not something that we take lightly. It's something that we understand is a key part of the discussion process and something that we value and really take a hard look at in terms of strength of schedule."
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