One Stat Shows how Georgia and Michigan Earned Top Seeds

Football is an incredible sport. We love it for the strain and physicality inherent to the game. We come back week after week because of how entertaining and intense the battles are.

It’s the ultimate team sport; where one weak link can be catastrophic. Every other sport allows you to hide a flaw and still be elite; basketball needs just a couple of superstars to make a team a contender; baseball can hide a weak hitter in the bottom of the lineup. To be elite in football, however, you can’t have a weakness if you want to be the best. If you do, at some point during a 12-game regular season, it’s going to be exposed.

At the same time, with all the innovation it constantly sees, football remains simple at its core. Want to win big? Play great run defense and be able to run the football yourself.

Alabama used that methodology to great effect at the peak of their dynasty. The Tide had two running backs - Mark Ingram (2009) and Derrick Henry (2014) - win Heisman Trophies, and defenses that crushed the run. From 2008 - 2012 - the height of Bama’s dominant defenses - Alabama only had one season where opponents averaged more than 90 yards per game on the ground against them.

This season the Tide gave up 125.3 yards per game on the ground. They’ll be watching the College Football Playoffs from home.

The two top-seeds - Georgia and Michigan - have taken that old school formula and used it to great effect, posting a combined 26-0 record this year.

One stat sums up the method the Bulldogs and Wolverines have used to win conference championships and earn top-seeding in the Playoff: Georgia and Michigan are the only Power 5 teams to average over 200 rushing yards per game while holding opponents under 100 yards on the ground.

Opponents have been held to just 77.0 yards rushing per game against Georgia, while the Dawgs are currently averaging 207.0 yards per game on the ground.

Jalen Carter is just TOO quick 😳 pic.twitter.com/igJ3P9h8He
— NFL Rookie Watch (@NFLRookieWatxh) November 13, 2022

For Michigan, those same stats come out to a 85.2 - 243 disparity.

Teams take on the personality of their coaches; Jim Harbough and Kirby Smart are two of the more physical domination-minded coaches in college football.

The path to the Playoff was clear for Michigan and Georgia: Bludgeon teams into submission. While both have obstacles coming up in the College Football Playoff - Michigan will face TCU, while Georgia will take on Ohio State in Atlanta - it would be fun to see these two teams face off in the postseason again. Unstoppable force meets immovable object.

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