Kirby Smart and Georgia football are ranked No. 5 in the final US LBM Coaches Poll released Tuesday, Jan. 20.
The Bulldogs dropped three spots after a 12-2 season that ended with a 39-34 loss to Ole Miss in the Jan. 1. Sugar Bowl in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.
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Georgia finished one spot higher in the coaches poll than it did last season after a Sugar Bowl loss to Notre Dame.
Georgia has finished in the top 8 in the coaches poll for nine straight seasons.
“My goal every year. … is like did you get the most out of that team?,” Smart said before the Sugar Bowl “Did that team get the most out of their potential? I think there’s a little bit of flawed system out there. There’s some coaches that get the most out of their team and they don’t win a national championship. That’s a hell of a year. We used to be able to credit a lot of people with a hell of a year. It’s unfortunately gotten to where it’s win it all or nothing. And we don’t evaluate our success that way. I don’t.”
He added: “I look at it intrinsically, as did this team get the best out? And this team needed fire, passion, and energy. It needed the ability to run the ball and it needed the ability to stop the run. We haven’t done that perfectly either, but we’ve done it at a little bit higher level than what we did in years past.”
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Georgia finished ranked No. 6 in the final Associated Press poll. Georgia fell four spots in the final ranking.
College football rankings
US LBM Coaches Poll
1 Indiana
2. Miami
3. Ole Miss
4. Oregon
5. Georgia
6. Ohio State
7. Texas Tech
8. Texas A&M
9. Alabama
10. Oklahoma
11. Notre Dame
12. BYU
13. Texas
14. Utah
15. Vanderbilt
16. Virginia
17. Iowa
18. Tulane
19. Houston
20. James Madison
21. USC
22. Michigan
23. Navy
24. Georgia Tech
25. Illinois
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football rankings. Where Bulldogs finished in final Coaches Poll
