Georgia is not a top-5 team

Poor all-around defense, other flaws make the Bulldogs overrated so far

Updated: October 1, 2012, 12:14 PM ET

By KC Joyner | ESPN Insider

One of the main issues many people have with the college football poll rankings is that they rely very heavily on where a team rates in the opening-week poll. Upward mobility in the poll rankings is possible in a general sense, but as long as the teams in the upper tier stay unbeaten, it can be next to impossible to move up from a lower rank and contend for a national championship.

A proposed solution to this issue is to hold off on putting together the first poll until a few weeks of the college football season have been played. Seeing teams in action before ranking them would help ensure the best teams are moved to the top of the list based on their on-field performance rather than on preseason reputation.

If that formula were in effect today, it's possible that the Georgia Bulldogs would still be ranked No. 5 in the AP top 25 after the first five weeks of the season. After all, the Bulldogs did win a tough road contest at Missouri, shellacked a Vanderbilt Commodores squad that gave the South Carolina Gamecocks a battle in Week 1 and won a shootout against a very explosive Tennessee Volunteers offense. Georgia has also set a school record by scoring 40 or more points in five straight games, so it would get some style points as well.

But if we take a closer look at Georgia's metrics and game tape, it is clear that this is a flawed and overrated squad that may barely deserve a top-10 ranking at this moment, let alone top-5.

Let's go through the multitude of areas where the Bulldogs have displayed significant weaknesses.

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