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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27 th
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28™
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Come walk our RED CARPET and have your picture taken
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you partake of hot, heavy hors d’oeuvres from 7pm-9pm,
then DANCE your way into the New Year with
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When: Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2019 _r
Where: VFW • 835 Sunset Dr. ' ‘ ^
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flag football
Sugar Bowl Preview
HERE’S HOPING KIRBY OPENS UP THE OFFENSE
By Cy Brown news@flagpole.com
I remember a phrase Dawg fans used to
celebrate their triumphant return to New
Orleans in 2002 when Georgia went to the
Sugar Bowl for the first time in 20 years:
“You can’t spell ‘sugar’ without ‘UGA.’”
After Georgia defeated Florida State in
that game, I remember it showing up on
a lot of T-shirts, too. The phrase made a
return ahead of the 2006 Sugar Bowl, which
was played in Atlanta following Hurricane
Katrina, although I saw fewer shirts after
the Dawgs lost to West Virginia. But the
saying popped back up in 2008 when
Georgia beat Hawaii in New Orleans.
Georgia fans have always loved the Sugar
Bowl. For decades, the top team in the SEC
earned a berth in the Sugar Bowl, so a trip
to NOLA meant you were the best in the
conference. Hell, we won our last national
championship in the Sugar Bowl. And we
still love the Sugar Bowl, right?
year: This year, Kirby still has something to
prove.
Last year, we knew how good that team
was. Despite all the nits that we picked
during the 2018 season, what we had was
essentially a playoff-caliber team, one that
could have made a run for the title had a
few bounces—or fake punts—gone our way
in the SEC Championship Game. A handful
of our best players were injured or sitting
out to prepare for the NFL draft. We lost,
and no one cared, because it meant nothing.
This year, we’ve spent months watching
a dull, ineffective offense. And even though
we came up just one game short of a trip to
the CFP, most honest fans would admit that
this team would probably get slaughtered
by Clemson or Ohio State the same way it
got slaughtered by LSU.
But because of those failures on offense,
Kirby has a chance to end the season on
Make the Sugar Bowl Great Again.
It doesn’t seem that way. Georgia is back
in the Sugar Bowl for the second time in as
many years, playing No. 7 Baylor this time
around. And for the second time in as many
years, no one seems excited about it. Just
look at the ticket prices. Considering the
state of college football, and the state of
Georgia football, that old saying feels more
like an insult than a brag.
The College Football Playoff reigns
supreme. If your program is considered
among the elite of the sport, anything
less than being one of those four teams
feels like a failure. And for the second year
running, Georgia ain’t one of those teams,
finishing just outside the top four. For most
of Georgia football history, any number of
fans would have traded a finger for a trip to
the Sugar Bowl. Now, it feels like a consola
tion prize, as well as a reminder that we fell
short—again.
Kirby Smart’s challenge this year is
effectively the same as it was last year: Get
the players excited and prepared for a game
that essentially doesn’t matter. He failed
last season, losing to Texas. But there is one
major difference between this year and last
a positive note. To do that, he has to win
the Sugar Bowl and score a lot of points in
the process. After all the hubbub about the
offense following the SEC Championship
Game, Kirby can silence a lot of critics head
ing into the offseason if he opens up the
playbook and the players execute. The Sugar
Bowl may mean nothing now, but it also
means a whole lot.
To be fair, Kirby and offensive coordina
tor James Coley tried to open the offense
against LSU, but, like all season, the routes
were often far too predictable, and there
wasn’t any cohesion between the receivers
and Jake Fromm. So, as much as I want to
see inventive play-calling, I also want to see
better execution from the players, specifi
cally Fromm.
With nothing on the line, if the offense
continues to play conservatively, it’s proba
bly a good indicator that Kirby doesn’t see
a need to change his “manball” approach.
If he continues with an offense that has
proven to be ineffective with three weeks
to prepare and no stakes, it’s a sign that
doesn’t bode well for potential changes to
the offense in the offseason. ©
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FLAGPOLE.COM | DECEMBER 25, 2019 & JANUARY 1, 2020
LAUREN TOLBERT