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It didn’t take long to understand that Georgia would be a favorite to repeat as national champions in 2022. ESPN’s Bill Connelly called it from the start.
The 2022 Bulldogs were listed as the top program on ESPN’s SP+ rankings following their 65-7 win over TCU on Monday evening. According to Connelly, the Bulldogs ended up with a 37.3 rating. This means they were regarded as 37.3 adjusted points per game better than the average college football team.
FINAL SP+ RANKINGS. Georgia basically ties 2020 Bama for the best recent national champ, while TCU falls to 8th.
The title game was so resounding that basically every SEC team rose and every Big 12 team fell. Good times.https://t.co/Xm2wDX5KCw
— Bill Connelly (@ESPN_BillC) January 11, 2023
When looking at the history of recent College Football Playoff winners, Connelly believes that the 2022 Bulldogs are tied with the 2020 Alabama roster for the most impressive winner. The 2021 Georgia program, which defeated Alabama at Lucas Oil Stadium, was listed as No. 3 while the 2019 LSU roster was ranked No. 7. Both Alabama and Georgia were listed in the 99.6th percentile while the 2021 Bulldogs were listed in the 99.5th percentile.
Alabama, which finished 11-2 this past season, ranked No. 2 in Connelly’s final standings following its Sugar Bowl victory over Kansas State. Tennessee, which defeated Clemson in the Orange Bowl, ranked No. 5, while SEC West winner LSU ranked No. 13.
Here’s a list of every program’s SP+ rankings among all 131 FBS programs found on ESPN:
1. Georgia
2. Alabama
5. Tennessee
12. Mississippi State
13. LSU
18. Ole Miss
24. South Carolina
25. Arkansas
28. Kentucky
34. Florida
35. Texas A&M
40. Missouri
51. Auburn
79. Vanderbilt
Cole Thompson is a freelance writer for Saturday Football who has covered college football and the NFL for multiple websites. Thompson is currently based in Houston, Texas, and also can be heard daily on SportsMap National Radio's 'Just Sayin It' from 3am-6am.
