ATLANTA — Georgia coach Kirby Smart said he spent time over the past year surveying other coaches about how best to approach the 12-team College Football Playoff.
A year ago, Ohio State missed its conference championship game, but the Buckeyes got hot and won a national title.
Meanwhile, the four conference champions who all earned first-round byes last season struggled mightily in their first playoff games, with all four top seeds losing.
But Smart wasn't sold on that logic for this year's playoff after Georgia's 16-9 win over Georgia Tech on Friday.
«The sweet spot is to win,» Smart said when asked how he hoped the next few weeks would shake out for the Bulldogs. «There is no right decision.… At the end of the day, you have to do what you feel best about. You'll always second-guess it if you lose and you won't if you win.»
Georgia left Mercedes-Benz Stadium Friday knowing its regular-season loss to Alabama meant it needed help to earn an SEC title game berth. The Bulldogs needed either an Alabama loss to Auburn on Saturday or a Texas A&M loss to Texas on Friday night.
The Bulldogs didn't have to wait long to get their answer, as the Longhorns upset the Aggies 27-17 later Friday night.
It means the fourth-ranked Bulldogs will return to Atlanta in eight days to defend their SEC title. Alabama can clinch the other spot should it win at Auburn while a Crimson Tide loss means Ole Miss will face Georgia.
Given Ohio State's success without playing in last year's Big Ten title game, the thought of taking next week off could have been a preferential option for some coaches, who would prefer to see their team get healthy and avoid added injury risk from an extra game.
Not for Smart, who has won three SEC titles.
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