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    • Does Georgia football put Carson Beck with CFP in jeopardy? It doesn’t happen
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    Does Georgia football put Carson Beck with CFP in jeopardy? It doesn’t happen

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    • The tentacles of Georgia’s loss to Ole Miss are far-reaching, from Texas to Indiana.
    • Even if Carson Beck racks up turnovers, it would go against Kirby Smart’s history to trigger a quarterback change with Georgia’s season on the line against Tennessee.
    • LSU’s season came to a head against Alabama, and now Brian Kelly’s tenure is at a crossroads.

    The tentacles of Georgia’s loss to Ole Miss it goes from Austin, Texas to Bloomington, Indiana.

    The College Football Playoff the committee would probably have enjoyed a fairly neat and orderly selection process in a few weeks if Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs had beaten the Rebels.

    Oh miss beating Georgia 28-10 at Oxford and getting into the playoff mix overcrowding the bubble.

    That result increased the chance that the ACC and Big 12 would be one-bid leagues, and also raised the possibility that a Big Ten or SEC team worthy of playoff consideration would be left out of the field.

    Here’s what left my brain tingling as we close the book on week 11:

    Will Kirby Smart be benched at quarterback Carson Beck?

    I highly doubt it. As much as I think Smart should consider trying top backup quarterback Gunner Stockton, few coaches abhor a quarterback change like Smart.

    Here’s what Smart said Monday about the possibility of changing the defender:

    “Absolutely not,” Smart said. “We have a defender that we have who is completely competent, capable and understands our system, which gives us the best chance to win.”

    With Georgia’s season on the line against Tennessee, Smart will dance with whoever brought it, even if Carson Beck is responsible for 14 turnovers over the past six games.

    “He’s the key that gives the contact for them in attack,” volunteer coach Josh Heupel said Monday in an attempt to compliment Beck.

    The key won’t turn and the Lamborghini won’t start.

    Stockton would provide more quarterback play in Georgia’s offense, but assuming Smart sticks with Beck (a fair assumption given Smart’s history of handling quarterbacks), Georgia’s battered offensive line needs to protect Beck better than he did against Ole Miss when the Rebels held Beck under duress.

    Which teams are most affected by Georgia’s loss?

    Start with the obvious. Georgia suffering a second loss hurts Georgia.

    At 7-2, the Bulldogs can’t afford to lose to Tennessee. If Georgia rattles off wins against the Vols, Massachusetts and Georgia Tech, there’s a spot for them in the 12-team field. If Georgia drops a third game, that puts a needle in its bubble.

    Georgia’s loss to Ole Miss also affected:

    Tennessee: An Ole Miss loss would have knocked the Rebels out of the bubble, kept Georgia near the top of the standings and given the Vols a low-risk upset at Georgia on Saturday. Now, Tennessee’s own credentials will be called into question if it loses to Georgia a week after the Rebels made Georgia look inept.

    Texas: When you could convince yourself, Georgia was perhaps the best team in the nation, The LonghornsThe 30-15 loss to the Bulldogs in Austin didn’t sting as badly. Now, though, if you reexamine Texas’ resume, you see that the Longhorns have a weak schedule with no big wins and a home loss to a team that has lost to Alabama and Ole Miss.

    The Longhorns would be safe at 11-1. Lose to Texas A&M, though, and finish 10-2, and it becomes difficult to make a case for Texas. Georgia’s loss reduced Texas’ margin for error, especially with the head-to-head result, meaning the committee will likely have the Longhorns behind the Bulldogs if both are at-large contenders with the same record.

    Indiana: Consider this real possibility: Georgia beats Tennessee. Texas enters the SEC Championship Game at 11-1. Indiana loses to Ohio State.

    You would have had undefeated Oregon plus Ohio State, Penn State and Indiana with one loss each going into the Big Ten Championship. In the SEC, one-loss Texas would sit pretty long, followed by this list of 10-2 teams: Alabama, Ole Miss, Georgia and Tennessee.

    Oh, and don’t forget Notre Dame.

    Even without bringing the ACC or Big 12 into the picture, I count eight at-large contenders for seven spots.

    Indiana would have the mildest strength of schedule. Sip. Want to bet the basketball school becomes the odd man out?

    Is Brian Kelly a bust at LSU?

    LSU’s season was a blast Saturday night.

    The Tigers pretended to be a playoff team in brief bursts, but LSU had too many weaknesses and too few strengths to last as a playoff contender. Alabama exposed every wart on the inside a 42-13 destruction of the Tigers.

    MESSAGE INDEX: LSU leads teams in desperation as playoff hopes crumble

    RE-CLASSIFICATION: Mississippi up, Georgia down in NCAA rankings 1-134

    This result became the low point of Kelly’s tenure this was quite encouraging for two years before the momentum stalled. In Year 3, LSU should expect more than that.

    I’m not ready to declare the Kelly era a bust just yet. He’s putting together his best recruiting class, a group ranked No. 4 nationally and led by the nation’s No. 1 quarterback prospect, Bryce Underwood. Still, a new quarterback won’t solve everything that ails the Tigers.

    LSU’s running game would benefit from more imagination, and Kelly needs to acquire and develop better defensive personnel. It would help to take a page from the Ole Miss playbook and add some proven transfers this offseason.

    LSU’s talent on defense just isn’t good enough. That has shown throughout this season, just as it did last year.

    Should Miami be concerned about its place in the CFP rankings?

    Absolutely, he should be worried.

    You could overlook Miami’s lack of a signature win then Hurricanes were undefeated and accumulated points but a 28-23 loss to Georgia Tech calls for closer scrutiny of Miami’s credentials.

    Miami’s entire operation relies on quarterback Cam Ward, who looks like Superman every week, and he does a damn good job of it. But Miami’s defense consistently leaves it vulnerable, and Georgia Tech exposed Miami’s offensive line.

    Miami needed three second-half comebacks to remain undefeated before this Georgia Tech loss.

    The Hurricanes will end November in Syracuse. Orange are not easy from home. A loss there could knock Miami out of the ACC Championship.

    In order to feel scared about the playoffs, the Hurricanes need to win the ACC championship and that’s not a layup, with SMU playing as well as any ACC team.

    Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national football columnist. Email them at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all his columns.

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