About The Red and Black (Athens, Ga.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 12, 2024)
A2 Thursday, December 12, 2024 THE RED & BLACK GRAPHIC/LIBBY HOBBS CFP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TBD TBD CLEMSON, #12 OHIO STATE, #8 TBD SMU,#11 TBD TBD TEXAS, #5 NOTREDAME, #7 TBD TENNESSEE, #9 INDIANA, #10 GEORGIA.#2 ARIZONA ST.. #4 TBD PENN STATE, #6 TBD BOISE STATE, #3 OREGON, #1 TBD TBD avoff bound Georgia’s pathway to the Natty Olivia Sayer Georgia football's path to the national championship is set. After beating Texas on Saturday night in the SEC championship, the Bulldogs will face the winner of the Indiana-Notre Dame game on Jan. 1 at 8:45 p.m. EST in the Sugar Bowl. Georgia received arguably the most favorable path to the nation al championship, as it avoids playing Texas — for a third time — Ohio State, Oregon, Tennessee and Clemson, until the final game. The Bulldogs also received a first round bye as one of the top-four highest seeded conference champions. “We’ve got a lot of time to work on ourselves and try to get bet ter,” head coach Kirby Smart told the media on Sunday. “And that’s the biggest thing right now, is what’s important now, and what’s important now is for us to keep trying to challenge ourselves and find ways to get better.” The Bulldogs, who lost both quarterback Carson Beck to an elbow injury and punter Brett Thorson on Saturday, could use the time off. Beck and his family are exploring tratement options and there is no timetable on his return, at the time of publication. Thorson suffered a season-ending knee injury to his non-kicking leg “There’s no good script for losing a quarterback or having to go to your backup,” Smart said. “But this situation does give you time if that’s what has to happen. There is time there, but experience is so valuable, and you can’t really get experience in this amount of time.” Georgia is 3-0 against Notre Dame, with its biggest win coming in the 1980 Sugar Bowl. There, the Bulldogs beat the Fighting Irish 17-0 to complete a perfect 12-0 season and win their second nation al championship in program history. The last time Georgia played Notre Dame was in 2019, winning 23-17. Georgia has never faced Indiana. The Hoosiers are 11-1 under first year head coach Curt Cignetti this season with their lone loss coming to Ohio State 38-15. Smart coached with Cignetti at Alabama from 2007-2010, and said he “enjoyed being around him.” “I thought it was awesome to see some of [Indiana’s] games on a national stage this year and their team transform the whole cam pus and energy around their program,” Smart said. Should Georgia win its quarterfinal matchup, it will play No. 3 Boise State, No. 6 Penn State or No. 11 SMU on Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m. EST in the Orange Bowl. 2024 SPECIAL ISSUE STAFF EDITORIAL 706-433-3027 LEADERSHIP EDITOR IN CHIEF Libby Hobbs MANAGING EDITOR Avni Trivedi DEPUTY EDITOR OF STANDARDS & PRACTICES Eliis Goud SPORTS SPORTS EDITOR Bo Underwood ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR Andy Mathis DIGITAL SPORTS EDITOR Olivia Sayer FOOTBALL BEAT REPORTERS Ansley Gavlak, Owen McDaniel MULTIMEDIA PHOTO EDITOR Samantha Hurley ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Felix Scheyer CHIEF PHOTOJOURNALIST Laney Martin DESIGN LAYOUT EDITOR Kaija Atchinson ASSISTANT LAYOUT EDITOR Abby Crowe DIGITAL SOCIAL media editor Hitanshi Shah ASSISTANT SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Taylor Greaves SOCIAL VIDEO EDITOR Sophie Davenport AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT EDITOR Alexia Rule GUIDES & MAGAZINES ASSISTANT GUIDES EDITOR Jaxon Meeks ADVERTISING 706-433-3001 ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Ryan Burnett, Cameron Ellison, Alan Jimenez, Madison Jones, Ethan Lail, Hannah Wyczalkowski ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE INTERN Catherine Blanchard ADVERTISING DATA INTERN Sela Humphery BUSINESS 706-433-3008 DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER Evie Lewis BRAND AMBASSADORS Anna Kobbe, Jane Ransome CREATIVE SERVICES 706-433-3021 CREATIVE SERVICES ASSISTANT Ashtin Barker COMMUNICATIONS 706-433-3009 COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Alexis Derickson COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANT Emma Akang DISTRIBUTION 706-433-3000 DISTRO@RANDB.COM DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Gracie Owens DISTRIBUTION ASSISTANTS Joanne Aligada, Reagan Brode, Jack Clark, Ella Eiland, Adriana Segura PROFESSIONAL STAFF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Charlotte Varnum 706-433-3009 | cvarnum@randb.com CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Melissa Mooney 706-433-3007 | mmooney@randb.com MARKETING DIRECTOR Katie Martin 706-433-3012 | kmartin@randb.com NEWSROOM ADVISER Kayla Renie 706-433-3026 | krenie@randb.com PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Blake Campbell 706-433-3021 | bcampbell@randb.com GUIDES & MAGAZINES SUPERVISOR Maddie Daniel 706-433-3046 | adaniel@randb.com Q State Botanical Garden of Georgia UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA •••AI si, • • 1* 0 i •• = Ie a* ••• • ** %/ a••**’•». *** • 4• • 7. ‘ r *. *4 ‘ The garden is offering • lie 2 a special event for the experience the garden light show while grooving to disco hits. Purchase • * • : tickets at wonderlights.uga.edu. onild' i--, new year, WonderLights Disco Nights. Disco Nights will allow visitors to
