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ir.Ei:mimiir» flag football
Playoff Bound
THE DAWGS CAN END AN UP-AND-DOWN SEASON WITH A CHAMPIONSHIP
By Cy Brown news@flagpole.com
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 oppor
tunity 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 suf
fered as many losses this year as we had the
previous three seasons. One was a heart-
breaker 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 Long
horns, 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 post
season—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 afore
mentioned 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-inter
ception 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 remem
ber is that they’re
national champions.
Somehow, through
the grace of God or
the selection commit
tee, we avoided the
most dangerous side
of the bracket. We
won’t have to play Oregon, Ohio State, Ten
nessee 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 import
ant Indiana state championship game since
the Milan Miracle, which the Irish were
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 uncer
tainty is the fact we still don’t know the
status of Carson Beck following his 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 Gunner 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. ®
Carson Beck was all smiles after winning the SEC Championship despite
injuring his arm.
Her
JVrvm
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DECEMBER 25, 2024 & JANUARY 1, 2025 ■ FLAGPOLE.COM
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