Georgia
Paul Finebaum rips College Football Playoff committee over Georgia ranking
The latest College Football Playoff selection committee rankings are out and they’re not without controversy. In particular, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum took major issue with the rankings, ripping the committee over Georgia in particular.
While making an appearance on Get Up on Wednesday morning, Finebaum was critical of Georgia being ranked 10th, which is good enough to make it into the Playoff but isn’t as high as it seems like they should be to Finebaum.
“It’s the Georgia Bulldogs because when you showed that graphic,” Paul Finebaum said. You saw Georgia’s opponents all over the place, including Texas, the number three team in the country. They only beat Texas in Texas. Look, they played at Alabama. They lost at Ole Miss. They beat Tennessee. When you look at everyone else, Indiana doesn’t have a ranked team, they’ll get one this weekend. Penn State has lost to one. Every time I get on here every Wednesday morning I say to myself, ‘Calm down. Don’t be an angry guy. Get off your lawn.’”
This season, Georgia has losses to Alabama and Ole Miss. Both of those were road games to teams ranked within the current top 10. Georgia has also, as Finebaum noted, beaten Texas and Tennessee, who are in the top 12 of the rankings
“But this committee is not serious,” Finebaum said. “There are football coaches on this committee and there is no way those football coaches can tell me or anyone else with a straight face that they really think Indiana, Penn State, Miami, schools like that are better than Georgia. It’s not possible.”
At that point, insider Heather Dinich explained some of the logic from the College Football Playoff selection committee. To this point, there has been more emphasis on losses and the eye test, as is exemplified by Indiana, than there seems to be on metrics like strength of record.
“We shouldn’t [be fine with that logic]. Listen, just because there are new members on the committee doesn’t mean they have to do a lousy job and, so far, they have done a lousy job. What they’ve really done is they’ve put Georgia in a box because Georgia doesn’t have another quality opponent, although they’re playing a team in two weeks that beat Miami. They don’t have a route to get higher,” Finebaum said. “Why is that important? Yeah, they’re in the Playoff, but they’ll start the Playoff on the road at Penn State, at Indiana, at one of these schools that, in my opinion, really haven’t done anything. If Indiana has a great game Saturday, good for them, but I don’t think they will and they should not be where they are based on their schedule so far because they have beaten no one so far.”
Georgia has two regular season games remaining against UMass and Georgia Tech. Assuming that the Bulldogs win both of those games, they’ll be in a good position to make the Playoff but there could be some concerns about seeding.
They were designed to hold a drink, but cups produced in Rome, Georgia, have become one of the FIFA Men’s World Cup’s most unexpected souvenirs.
Inside the Top Cup plant in Rome, millions of cups were created to celebrate the world’s biggest sporting event.
“We made 10 million over 70 different graphics for the World Cup,” said Rome native and Top Cup General Manager Zach Dixon.
The plant in north Georgia produces up to 750,000 cups a day.
“We’ve always been really proud of the cup … but the World Cup has obviously taken it to another level,” said Top Cup CEO David Cuthbert.
Fans have been taking them home from matches. Some have even been listed for sale online.
“We’ve always been really proud of the cup… but the World Cup has obviously taken it to another level,” said Cuthbert.
Dixon said they begin the process with massive coils of aluminum, each weighing about 30,000 pounds. The metal is stamped, stretched, washed, and moved down the line.
The plant produces about 1,100 cups every minute.
Ricardo Marques, the senior vice president of marketing for Michelob ULTRA, said that there have been venue-specific, match-specific, and Finals-specific stadium cups for the World Cup. There are also three separate red, white, and blue designs available for fans at bars and restaurants around the U.S.
“We’ve seen an incredible response to the collection. Together, these commemorative cups give fans a unique keepsake and a lasting reminder of an unforgettable FIFA World Cup experience and the moments that brought millions of people together through the world’s game,” Marques said.
Cuthbert said his company has seen how the World Cup has done wonders for metro Atlanta businesses.
“Our team in Rome, Georgia takes tremendous pride in helping bring this fan experience to life for one of the world’s biggest sporting events,” he said.
So when soccer fans celebrate the surprise victory or mourn their last-minute loss, they’re doing so with a little piece of Georgia.
Athlon Sports projected the best SEC games for each week of the 2026 regular season.
The conference features some of the most compelling matchups in all of college football, from opening weekend through rivalry week. The selections emphasize games anticipated to have the biggest impact on the SEC championship race and College Football Playoff picture.
Florida’s annual clash with Georgia was tabbed as one of the SEC’s premier fixtures. The game has grown in national significance since it began in 1904, continuing as a battle of blue-blood programs that routinely produces iconic results. The game temporarily moves to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta during the Jacksonville stadium renovations.
The Jon Sumrall era carries with it an increasing sense of belief — many experts see the Gators as a dark-horse CFB playoff contender. Regardless of its final win-loss record, UF will play a part in shaping the season’s narrative as they face several post-season favorites in Texas, Georgia and Oklahoma.
Noted in the article is the SEC’s depth and newly implemented nine-game conference schedule. Georgia, Texas, Alabama and LSU appear multiple times on this list, with Georgia facing Alabama in Week 6 and Ole Miss in Week 10 while LSU hosts Clemson in Week 1 and will see Texas in Week 11 take on Alabama.
Many contenders from the SEC face multiple nationally relevant foes over the course of the season.
Athlon Sports’ Best game for every week of the 2026 season
- Week 1: Clemson at LSU (Sept. 5)
- Week 2: Ohio State at Texas (Sept. 12)
- Week 3: LSU at Ole Miss (Sept. 19)
- Week 4: Oklahoma at Georgia (Sept. 26)
- Week 5: Auburn at Tennessee (Oct. 3)
- Week 6: Georgia at Alabama (Oct. 10)
- Week 7: Alabama at Tennessee (Oct. 17)
- Week 8: Ole Miss at Texas (Oct. 24)
- Week 9: Florida vs. Georgia (Atlanta) (Oct. 31)
- Week 10: Georgia at Ole Miss (Nov. 7)
- Week 11: Texas at LSU (Nov. 14)
- Week 12: Texas A&M at Oklahoma (Nov. 21)
- Week 13: Texas at Texas A&M (Friday) (Nov. 27)
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