Georgia Now in Hunt For BCS National Championship

And I mean, no one saw this coming.

After their loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks, it was the usual talk of head coach Mark Richt being back on the hot seat for the Georgia Bulldogs. But you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in Athens talking about Richt’s job now, not when Georgia’s national title hopes suddenly appeared to be alive and well on Saturday night.

After a loss by the Kansas State Wildcats and the Oregon Ducks on Saturday night, Georgia are now in the driver’s seat for controlling their own destiny to the BCS National Championship game. They will meet the Alabama Crimson Tide on December 1 in a game that now has national championship implications.

Kansas State fell to the Baylor Bears in Waco, and the Oregon Ducks fell in overtime at home to the Stanford Cardinal in a heartbreaking loss that now has the BCS bowl picture shaken from its foundation.

It looked like complete doom and gloom for Georgia following their loss to the Gamecocks, but a win over the Florida Gators has done wonders for their season as well as their spirit by effectively shutting the Gators out of not only the SEC Championship game, but a BCS bowl as well.

Indeed, Richt was facing a wall of criticism earlier in the year, but is now in line to possibly win their first national championship since the 1980 season. A win over Alabama would give Georgia their 13th SEC championship in school history.

Dan Irwin is a sports writer for Rant Sports.  Follow him on Twitter @ danirwin_rant or on Facebook at “facebook.com/danirwin.sports“.