Of all the seasons to stop writing about Georgia football, I can’t say this was the best one to pick. Since I last had the opportunity to write about the Dawgs—I’ve been dealing with a 10-month-old with enough energy to power the light show at Sanford Stadium—all that’s happened is the most eventful season in living memory.
Let’s see… There was a beatdown of Clemson to open the season. We’ve suffered as many losses this year as we had the previous three seasons. One was a heartbreaker to Alabama after storming back from a 28-point deficit. The other was a drubbing at the hands of Ole Miss. We went to Austin and beat a rejuvenated Texas program. Tennessee came to Athens for the biggest game the Classic City has seen in some years and got their ass whooped. We went to eight overtimes against Georgia Tech. And through some fortunate twists of fate, we ended up in Atlanta for an SEC Championship rematch with the Longhorns, besting them in overtime with a backup quarterback to win the conference for the third time in Kirby Smart’s tenure.
Did I miss anything? Lots, actually, but you get the gist. This was a wild season.
And now the stage is set for a wild postseason—the first ever 12-team College Football Playoff. Our reward for winning the SEC is an opening round bye and a date with the winner of Notre Dame vs. Indiana in the Sugar Bowl. But with the new format, we’ll need to win three more games in order to claim the national title.
Regardless of what happens over the next one to three games, I feel safe in saying this is Smart’s most impressive coaching job to date. With trips to Austin, Tuscaloosa and Oxford, along with an opener against Clemson in Atlanta and the Tennessee game, this was the most grueling schedule in Georgia football history, and we still emerged as SEC champs.
Kirby has certainly had teams that were considerably better and more talented, but that’s the point. We lost some of the most important players in the back-to-back title teams—Brock Bowers, Ladd McConkey, Javon Bullard, Kamari Lassiter, Amarius Mims—and we’re still in a position to win a title. On top of that, thanks to the leveling of the sport through the transfer portal, this is the thinnest roster Smart has had at Georgia. Long gone are the days where you can stack five-stars on top of five-stars. And that cost us dearly as injuries stacked up this season, particularly in the backfield and on the offensive line.
The talent disparity compared to seasons past bore itself out on the field. Drops were endemic among the receiving corps. The defensive backs struggled in coverage and even more with their tackling. The aforementioned injuries along the offensive line and in the backfield created an anemic run game for stretches of the season. Carson Beck regressed—in no small part because of the drops—and had a string of multi-interception games.
Which is all to say, I’m a bit stunned we’re not only in the College Football Playoff, we have a bye and arguably one of the best paths to winning a title. This team was chock full of flaws, but if we win three more games, all anyone will remember is that they’re national champions.
Somehow, through the grace of God or the selection committee, we avoided the most dangerous side of the bracket. We won’t have to play Oregon, Ohio State, Tennessee or Texas (again) until the national championship game. And if I were to name the four teams I would least like to play in this tournament, it would be those four.
The Dawgs will be playing the winner of Notre Dame vs. Indiana, the most important Indiana state championship game since the Milan Miracle, which the Irish are favored to win. Should we win that game, we’ll face either Boise State and its star tailback Ashton Jeanty, or the winner of the opening round game between Penn State and SMU in the semifinal. If we make it to the championship, I wager we’ll see one of those four teams I’d like to play least.
Suffice it to say, I have no clue how any of this will shake out. Adding to the uncertainty is the fact that Georgia will likely start backup quarterback Gunnar Stockton following Carson Beck’s injury in the SEC Championship. I imagine Kirby will want to keep his status close to the vest, and we won’t have an answer to who will start until closer to the Sugar Bowl. But I’d guess Stockton gets the nod, if only because the hit on Beck was super gnarly, and I don’t know how your arm can move like that without needing surgery.
So if you had me guess how the playoffs will shake out for the Dawgs, I’ll just have to shrug my shoulders. This team has been a mystery to me all season. But if they do somehow grab three more wins and become national champs, you can’t say they didn’t earn it.
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