Kirby Smart said Notre Dame was what Georgia thought it would be — and that meant there would be little margin for error.
“They played exactly like we expected them to play, physical, tough, don’t beat yourself and they did those exact things,” Smart said after the Bulldogs’ 23-10 loss to the Fighting Irish in the Sugar Bowl on Thursday. “They got two turnovers, and we didn’t, and they returned a kickoff for a touchdown. We basically spotted them probably 14 points off that and cost ourselves a possession in the red area when we fumbled down there (at the Notre Dame 10).”
The Bulldogs also were 0-for-3 on fourth-down conversion attempts which, in effect, are equivalent to turnovers.
Georgia was the highest seeded team (No. 2) remaining in the College Football Playoff entering Thursday’s game after No. 1 Oregon was eliminated by Ohio State in the Rose Bowl CFP quarterfinal Wednesday.
But like the Ducks — and No. 3 seed Boise State and No. 4 seed Arizona State — the Bulldogs were not able to advance in the 12-team playoff, as Notre Dame moves on to the Orange Bowl to face Penn State on Thursday.
Smart said the longer layoff the top four seeds were afforded was not a contributing factor to his team’s loss, and he refused to use that as an excuse.
“Two of those teams were better than the other teams, to be honest with you,” Smart said, pointing to Texas and Penn State being ranked higher than their quarterfinals competition, Arizona State and Boise State, but not being seeded higher because of the conference champion provision.
“That’s more about the seeding process. Notre Dame (which did not have a bye) lost probably their best defensive player (to injury playing in the first-round game), so I don’t know how that’s an advantage.”
Smart said Georgia’s preparation for the game was fine, and he didn’t think the delay caused by the deadly New Orleans attack — which left at least 14 dead and injured dozens — was a factor in his team’s loss.
“I wouldn’t change anything we did leading up to it. I thought our preparation was good, we got to run extra yesterday. I was really pleased with that,” Smart said. “I did not think it was a conditioning issue. I did not think it was a tackling issue.”
Smart acknowledged the tragedy created concern for the players and their families, but he didn’t think it took his players’ focus from the game.
“I’m not desensitizing what happened. That was a very traumatic event, but this team was focused and ready to go play,” Smart said. “I’m not going to talk about the tragedy affecting our team. Notre Dame played well, we didn’t play great.”
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