Over the past seven years, Georgia lost a total of seven regular-season games. Only in the COVID campaign of 2020 did it lose more than one non-bowl, non-championship, non-playoff game. Should it lose in Austin on Saturday, the Bulldogs will be 5-2 with dates against Ole Miss and Tennessee remaining.
Given Georgia’s schedule, one loss seemed more probable than not. A second – Texas is outscoring opponents by an average of 36.8 points, FYI – wouldn’t be shocking. Assuming the Bulldogs win out after Saturday, losses in Tuscaloosa and Austin wouldn’t bar them Bulldogs from the expanded playoff. The greater issue is whether they’re capable of winning out. For the first time in a while, this seems a lesser Georgia.
It’s not that the Bulldogs lost to Alabama. That game was insane – and, lest we forget, Georgia pulled ahead with 2:31 remaining. Of greater concern are the three games wrapped around the Bama L.
Sept. 14, at Kentucky: Georgia trails after three quarters and musters one touchdown.
Oct. 5, Auburn in Athens: Georgia leads 14-10 with four minutes left in the third quarter.
Oct. 12, Mississippi State in Athens: The visitors have the ball in the fourth quarter trailing by 10.
The combined SEC record of Kentucky, Auburn and MSU is 1-9. The Wildcats lost at home to Vanderbilt. The Tigers lost at home to California, 0-3 in ACC play. Mississippi State lost at home – by 24 points! – to Toledo. The Bulldogs used to beat such opponents by 30 or 40. Total margin of victory in these three games: 29.
The Bulldogs are 27th among FBS teams in total offense, five spots ahead of Georgia Tech. They’re also 27th in total defense, eight spots ahead of Tech. Georgia is 63rd in passing efficiency defense, 92nd in rushing offense.
There was a time when the Bulldogs did everything well. What this team does best is have Carson Beck throw the ball, and there’s slippage there, too. He was eighth in passing efficiency last year; he’s 22nd now. Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey are much missed.
We stipulate that going 42-2 over three seasons renders improvement impossible. Attrition is inevitable. (Three subsequent NFL drafts saw 10 Bulldogs drafted in Round 1.) Still, we can’t discuss Georgia without mentioning Kirby Smart’s famous recruiting, which leads us to ask why certain positions appear short-staffed.
The transfer portal has been no panacea. Receiver Rara Thomas, formerly of Mississippi State, was dismissed from the Georgia squad in August after being arrested on family-violence charges. Receiver Colbie Young, formerly of Miami, was arrested this month on misdemeanor charges of battery and assaulting an unborn child and has been suspended. Seven Bulldogs have been arrested since March.
Said Smart, speaking to reporters after Young’s arrest: “When you have 130 17-to-23-year-olds, you’re going to have issues … I certainly recognize that we’ve got to do a better job.”
Smart fielded questions this week about his caught-on-video shove of Mississippi State quarterback Michael Van Buren. “I didn’t even realize that I had run into him,” said Smart, who apologized to MSU coach Jeff Lebby after the game. The shove went unpenalized by game officials. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said Smart should have been flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.
This would seem an opportune moment for Georgia – an underdog for the first time since September 2021 – to win a game it’s not supposed to win. To borrow Don Draper’s “Mad Men” line: “If you don’t like what people are saying, change the conversation.” Beat Texas and we wouldn’t be discussing Kirby Smart, shover of opponents. We’d be hailing Kirby Smart, conjurer of upsets.
