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Georgia football’s fall from grace in a post-NIL era: debunking a longstanding narrative
When you surround yourself with college football and make it part of your livelihood, you will no doubt hear and read every narrative under the sun with regard to the world’s greatest sport.
Most of them don’t even deserve a second look and are baseless conspiracy theories, but a few exist in that uncanny realm between fact and fiction.
One that has caught my eye comes from the perpetrators of the “SEC is washed” crowd, more specifically those who call out the program that has ruled the conference for the first half of this decade, the Georgia Bulldogs.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen fans on social media and even college football talking heads run with the narrative that the Dawgs have lost their edge since “paying players became legal.”
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Ignoring the fact that every power program was always paying players (you really think USC in the mid-2000s or the Urban Meyer-led Buckeyes were getting five-stars to come to their school pro bono?), let’s break down why this is a tired and hackneyed refrain to a topic that requires a bit more nuance.
We can start with some dates, as the advent of “paying players,” aka NIL, came into effect on July 1, 2021.
If NIL had any impact on Georgia’s ability to compete at the highest level, it certainly wasn’t immediate, as the Dawgs rattled off back-to-back national championships in 2021 and ’22.
Even the following year in 2023, Georgia nearly went wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team all throughout the regular season, and missed out on the College Football Playoff after a narrow loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game.
They were arguably the best team that season, slipping up only once against the aforementioned Crimson Tide squad, and eviscerated a very talented Florida State team in the Orange Bowl to finish 13-1.
While it’s true the 2024 team wasn’t a vintage Kirby Smart outfit, they still won 11 games, an SEC Championship, and had four wins against Playoff opponents, including a 34-3 drubbing of ACC Champion Clemson.
Even the 2025 team was a return to form for the boys from Athens, going 12-2 and winning the conference once again, only to lose a close game against Ole Miss in the quarterfinals.
So, if a 65-7 record with two national titles and three SEC championships is considered “falling off,” then please, sign me up for that every day of the week and twice on Saturday.
But the proof isn’t just coming from on the field, either.
Talent acquisition is the biggest indicator of how healthy a program is in any era of college football, and the numbers would indicate the Bulldogs are far from “broke.”
Starting with the 2022 recruiting cycle, which would be the one immediately after NIL was introduced, the Dawgs have racked up some serious wins on the recruiting trail.
Their class rankings, according to the 247Sports composite rankings, were third (2022), second (’23), first (’24), second (’25) and sixth (’26).
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I guess you could say they found a few nickels to rub together over those years.
Many will point to this year’s class as an example of Georgia being unable to recruit now that “the playing field has been leveled,” given their current rank of 30, but that’s just disingenuous.
The Bulldogs only have eight players committed this current cycle, and two of those eight are composite five-stars.
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When that number of commits reaches the 20-plus mark, I fully expect Georgia to be back in the top five.
Yes, Georgia hasn’t won every single game they’ve played in, but that doesn’t mean they’re “washed” and it doesn’t have a ton to do with NIL.
The transfer portal might have a little to do with it, since teams can no longer stack five-stars and expect them to wait their turn on the bench, but Georgia is still one of the most talented teams in the country year in and year out.
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Trying to knock them for going three years without winning a national championship is asinine too, because they’ve been competitive every year, and in a 12-game tournament, you’re going to get some wonky results in a random game or two, especially when drawing from such a low sample size.
Other than the lackluster performance against Notre Dame in the 2024-25 Playoff, their only other data point from the 12-team era is a back-and-forth, last-minute loss to Ole Miss, a team they had beaten just two months prior.
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Georgia is fine. They will be fine.
As much as it pains me to say that as a Florida Gator fan, I have to call balls and strikes and didn’t feel like sitting back and watching a false narrative spread like wildfire.
Believe me, if Georgia does ever fall off a cliff, I will be the first one there to point and laugh, but today is not that day, and tomorrow isn’t looking too promising either.
Now excuse me while I go throw up from writing this.
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Former California mayor admits secretly working for China, spreading Beijing propaganda in US
The former mayor of a Southern California city admitted in federal court Friday that she acted as an illegal agent of the Chinese government, formally pleading guilty in a case prosecutors have described as a brazen effort to spread Beijing-backed propaganda inside the United States.
Eileen Li Wang, the former mayor of Arcadia, California, pleaded guilty to acting as an agent of a foreign government without notifying U.S. authorities, a felony offense carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison, three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine and a $100 special assessment fee.
Federal prosecutors allege Wang acted “at the direction and control” of Chinese government officials between 2020 and 2022, coordinating with individuals in the United States to distribute pro-Beijing messaging without registering with the U.S. attorney general as required by law. The conduct described in the case occurred before Wang was elected to the Arcadia City Council in 2022 and later became mayor through the city’s rotating system.
Wang appeared in court Friday wearing a navy suit with gold buttons and was accompanied by her attorneys. Although the court provided a Mandarin interpreter, Wang chose to proceed in English throughout the hearing.
CALIFORNIA MAYOR ACCUSED OF SECRETLY WORKING FOR CHINA, SPREADING PROPAGANDA WHILE IN OFFICE: FEDS
Before accepting the plea, the judge placed Wang under oath and questioned her extensively about her state of mind and understanding of the proceedings. Wang then waived her right to a grand jury indictment and her right to a jury trial.
A Justice Department attorney reviewed the charge against Wang, knowingly acting as an agent of a foreign government without notifying U.S. authorities, and outlined the maximum penalties she faces. Wang told the court she understood she was pleading guilty to a felony offense and understood the potential consequences, including the conditions of supervised release.
Prosecutors also reviewed the constitutional rights Wang would be giving up by entering the plea, including certain appeal rights. The judge then asked Wang a series of questions to verify she understood those waivers.
At one point, defense attorneys attempted to waive the government’s reading of the factual basis supporting the charge, but prosecutors insisted the facts be read aloud in open court.
When the judge asked how she pleaded, Wang responded: “Yes, guilty.”
The judge accepted the plea and scheduled sentencing for Oct. 6, 2026, at 9 a.m. local time. Wang was released on bond pending sentencing and will have an opportunity to address the court before her sentence is imposed.
The guilty plea marks the latest development in a case federal officials have pointed to as a warning about Chinese government efforts to influence American institutions and public discourse through covert operations inside the United States.
According to court documents, Wang worked alongside Yaoning “Mike” Sun, a convicted Chinese agent already serving a four-year federal prison sentence, to operate a website posing as a local Chinese-American news outlet.
Prosecutors described the website as a propaganda arm for the Chinese Communist Party that published content supplied directly by Chinese government officials.
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In one exchange detailed in court filings, a Chinese government official sent Wang a pre-written article denying allegations of forced labor and genocide in China’s Xinjiang region. Prosecutors said Wang posted the article online within minutes and sent the official a link to the published piece. The official allegedly responded: “So fast, thank you everyone.”
In another instance, prosecutors said Wang made edits to content at Beijing’s request and later responded, “Thank you leader.”
Authorities also allege Wang communicated with convicted Chinese operative John Chen, a figure prosecutors say has ties to China’s intelligence apparatus and connections to Chinese President Xi Jinping. According to court documents, Wang asked Chen to distribute messaging and wrote, “This is what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to send.”
CHINA SKIRTS US EFFORTS TO STIFF-ARM CCP INTERFERENCE BY BOLSTERING STATE, LOCAL RELATIONS
“Individuals elected to public office in the United States should act only for the people of the United States that they represent,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said when the charges were announced.
“It is deeply concerning that someone who previously received and executed directives from PRC government officials is now in a position of public trust at all.”
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli called the case part of an ongoing effort to counter Chinese influence operations in the United States.
“Individuals in our country who covertly do the bidding of foreign governments undermine our democracy,” Essayli said. “This plea agreement is the latest success in our determination to defend the homeland against China’s efforts to corrupt our institutions.”
FBI Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky said Wang’s conduct should serve as a warning to others who seek to influence American politics on behalf of foreign governments.
“By her own admission, Eileen Wang secretly served the interests of the Chinese government,” Rozhavsky said. “Let this serve as a clear warning individuals who act on behalf of foreign governments to influence our democracy will be identified, investigated, and brought to justice.”
Wang resigned from the Arcadia City Council and mayor’s office after federal charges were announced. City officials have maintained that the conduct described by prosecutors occurred before Wang took office and said an internal review found no city finances, staff or decision-making processes were involved.
“The allegations at the center of this case, that a foreign government sought to exert influence over a local elected official, are deeply troubling,” the city previously said in a statement. “We take them seriously.”
Fox News’ Alex Rego and Matt Finn contributed to this report.
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