WRITING
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RIGHT ON SCHEDULE: GEORGIA IS SEC CHAMPIONS
Originally published on wsbradio.com December 2017
ATLANTA – Two years ago in a building that’s now in ruins, Kirby Smart was the center of the Bulldog universe.
While Alabama was getting set win another SEC Championship, Nick Saban’s defensive coordinator was set to become the next head coach of the University of Georgia.
It was the worst kept secret in the state. All that was left was for the Crimson Tide to finish their season, which they did in spectacular fashion.
Less than 24 hours after it was over Kirby was to be anointed king of Bulldog Nation.
Two years later, Smart has bestowed upon his subjects the riches and glory they were dreaming about.
The Georgia Bulldogs are SEC Champions. Two years ago, they were TaxSlayer Bowl Champions. I don’t think the latter sits quite as prominently in the case inside the Larry Munson Trophy Room.
“I’m so happy,” said Smart, dripping wet from his Gatorade shower, right after the 28-7 win over Auburn became official. “It’s awesome. For the Dawg Nation. For everybody.”
It is the unbridled joy that Georgia Bulldogs fans were hoping for – and some expecting – on December 6th 2015. But the reality sure does feel better than the dream doesn’t it?
Yes it’s certainly not uncommon for a coach to walk out of Atlanta with the SEC hardware in his hand. Obviously UGA fans watched Mark Richt do the same thing in 2002. But the SEC of 15 years ago isn’t quite the same as it is now. Take nothing away from Richt, but 2002 Arkansas isn’t winning the SEC West anymore.
And that’s been the problem.
While this league has been the most dominant it’s ever been, Georgia was left behind. The teams that won the SEC went on to bigger and better things. Alabama won its national championships. Florida got a couple. LSU got theirs. So did the fighting Cam Newtons.
Georgia was left with a few division titles, some bowl swag and a fan base wondering how it got left in the dust.
Now the Dawgs have caught up and they’ve done it faster than I thought they would.
I was clear that I thought Mark Richt deserved the chance to fix what was broken, but I never had any problem with Kirby Smart coming in if Richt didn’t get that opportunity.
I am not surprised that he has pulled this off. I am surprised that he’s done it two years after I watched his Alabama defense leave Florida in the same shape the Georgia Dome is now (by the way, if you want to make yourself sad, walk by the implosion site next week).
But after that day, it didn’t take his players long to realize that the right guy was leading them.
“Yeah, I remember,” said Nick Chubb, with the 2017 SEC Championship hat on his head. “(I was) happy the first day he came and spoke to us. He was busy with Alabama winning the championship, and he came in, and he just looked exhausted. We're like, man, what's this man been up to?”
Kirby Smart has been a man in a hurry ever since.
“The first time he came up to the meeting and then especially like the first practice we had,” said Roquan Smith, the SEC Championship Game MVP, “just knowing the way he carried himself, high energy, and just the things he says, and he actually backs it up with his actions. He's an awesome guy.”
Awesome is one way to describe it.
It has been asked a lot this week if Kirby thought his team was ahead of schedule. He gets annoyed with questions pretty easy, but he’s really sick of this one.
“There is no schedule to winning championships,” Smart kept saying over and over again. “There is no schedule. The only thing is what you have and what you do with what you have.”
What Kirby Smart had in year one wasn’t much. You can certainly say there was more to that team than 8-5, but it was not worthy of winning much more than the Liberty Bowl.
After that regular season was over, it was looking like Georgia was going to lose even more. But it didn’t. Nick Chubb, Sony Michel, Lorenzo Carter and Davin Bellamy all chose to stay.
They obviously knew that something special could happen here.
“This is why we came back,” said Sony Michel during the post game celebration. “To be back with my boys. Words can’t explain how I feel.”
It doesn’t take a genius to know if those four players don’t come back, this day doesn’t happen. But they did and it has.
Chubb has now rushed for more yards than everybody to ever play SEC football save one guy named Herschel. Michel will likely cross 1,000 yards in the bowl game. That duo would become the first at UGA to do that in one season. Carter, Bellamy and Smith have given UGA a linebacking core no one in the country can rival.
But they still had to win. And this team still had so many questions marks when the season began.
The offensive line wasn’t good enough. The secondary was thin. What about special teams? Then less than a quarter into the season, a freshman backup became the starting quarterback.
Kirby Smart was not a happy guy when he found out he might have to play another season with an 18-year-old pulling the strings.
That makes this even all the more impressive doesn’t it? Georgia is SEC Champions, doing it the hard way.
“This is incredible,” said Fromm, moments after winning the title over Auburn 28-7. “It’s great to be a Georgia Bulldog.”
No kidding.
For the first time since the National Championship season of 1980, Georgia has beaten every team it’s played. No the Dawgs are not unbeaten, but they got Auburn back in the game that matters most.
Now for the first time ever, Georgia is going to the College Football Playoff.
It could be a trip back to New Orleans and Sugar Bowl or the Dawgs could be going to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 75 years.
But that is for tomorrow. Tonight, the red and black flag flies first on the SEC banner.
In two years, Kirby Smart has led his alma mater, the University of Georgia, to the SEC title. UGA wanted to become what Alabama is.
A team that cracks your head open on defense and pounds it down your throat on offense. And a team that wears rings when it walks out the door.
Check, check and check.
Georgia is the SEC Champion and not a moment too soon.
JAY BLACK: COPING WITH MY FIRST WEEKEND WITHOUT SPORTS—EVER
Originally published on wsbradio.com March 17, 2021
I need a hug.
We all need a hug. Unfortunately, we can’t get a hug because that is now considered unnecessary roughness in a world that’s forced to bend the knee to COVID-19.
It was weird. It was strange. It’s a new normal.
We are still in the infancy of this pandemic, but the loss of our games is the most visible representation of what we are dealing with and what will most assuredly get worse. For the first time in my life, there was not a game to watch in this country. Unless you count watching me hack it around at my local golf course.
If we want to watch any competition, we will have to do it ourselves. We can’t count on the professionals for a while. So amateur golf and fishing, you’re up. Maybe tennis too.
I’ve been asked a lot lately, “Jay you’re the sports director, what are you going to do without sports?”
I have no idea. I still don’t.
This weekend is one of the peaks of the sports calendar. This time of year is my time of year.
With conference tournaments and Braves’ spring training and Atlanta’s NASCAR race and The PLAYERS Championship and most importantly Selection Sunday to kickoff March Madness, this is a great time to be alive.
Except when it isn’t. It’s all gone.
Instead, I played a little golf. Did a lot of cleaning. Watched a lot of movies, which includes Frozen 2 (this is where we are at people. A single man watching Frozen. I have two unofficial nieces, so I figured it’s time to learn what they are excited about). I did squeeze in time to watch the only sport that was on TV. UFC. I knew the only way I’d be able to watch two women pounding each other’s head in, was if it was the last sport on Earth.
Welp. Guess what I did for about 10 minutes? Those women leave a lot of blood on a mat.
I spent the first part of this great sports weekend telling everyone what’s not going to happen. There will be no March Madness. No Final Four in Atlanta. No MLB, no NBA, no MLS. No nothing.
Then at 10:04 a.m. Friday I had to break in on the radio and report that mother of all spring events – the Masters – would not be played in April.
It was a sports fan’s knockout blow. Augusta National cedes its spring time authority to no man or beast. Just a disease. For the first time since World War II, the only people who get to see the azaleas in bloom this year are the members.
Maybe they can tweet a picture. Or maybe not. It might hurt too much.
Opening day might not come until Memorial Day. Unbelievable. Truly unbelievable.
And by the way, the NCAA tournament has never been cancelled. Not even for a war. Yet, this is sort of starting to feel like a war, isn’t it?
There are no games, people are scared, stores are rationing high demand items.
This is the first time my generation or the previous one (I’m sort of a millennial, I’ll turn 35 on April 9th. That would have been round one of the Masters. I still need a hug) has ever had to suffer or sacrifice like this. All the norms that have always been there aren’t now.
It will be a while before anyone goes back to school or work. The economy will take a massive hit.
Whether you believe the worst is yet to come or not, no doubt, we will know some of the struggles the Greatest Generation did. The only question is, how long will our day-to-day lives be thrown into turmoil.
As the internet meme goes, they were called to fight. We are called to sit.
Sports matter. They aren’t life or death, but they are close. When they are gone, it’s just wrong.
Cancelling everything was the right move. Maybe postponement would have been better, but I can’t criticize someone for doing the right thing. What do I know? I’m not a doctor, just a sports guy.
But it can always be worse.
I had to have a conversation with my parents this weekend. But me, my brother and my sister stood in the yard and made them stay on the porch. They are over 60 and considered very at risk to catch this thing.
For the first time in my life I was scared to go inside the home I grew up in. That’s 100 times worse than no ball on TV.
What I will do this weekend? No clue. More golf I hope. But March Madness was supposed to start, if you didn’t know.
Hopefully it’s just a strange couple of months and we can pick up where we left off.
Until then, excuse me if I sit in the corner and whimper just for a moment at noon on Thursday when the NCAA tournament should be on my TV.
All sports fans will still need a hug.
RICHT’S DEPARTURE ENDS A SILVER ERA OF GEORGIA FOOTBALL
Originally published on wsbradio.com December 2016
The University of Georgia just told the second-winningest football coach it has ever had that it’s time for someone else to take over.
The man who brought the first SEC title to his school in 20 years – and grabbed another for good measure – is seen as a man who can’t cut it.
The Mark Richt Era at Georgia is over after 15 years. The next era is probably going to be worse.
I’m not saying this because I believe Jere Morehead and Greg McGarity will hire a dolt. Maybe they will grab the best guy. Maybe they won’t. I have no idea. McGarity has never hired a football coach before.
I’m not saying this because I think no one can do a better job at UGA than Richt did because someone certainly can.
But it’s just simple math.
The chances of you finding someone better than Mark Richt are not good. There’s only one other coach that’s won more games at Georgia than Richt did. Nobody has won with a better percentage.
The odds of finding someone better than the second-best person in 123 years of football is low. The pool of people that can beat Richt is a lot smaller than the pool of people those that can defeat Jim Donnan.
Georgia people expect (to quote a movie I’m surprised that I’ve seen) that the odds will forever be in their favor. But with this move, those odds are anything but.
Mark Richt was a very good football coach. He brought pride and honor to my school and sprinkled in some hardware along the way.
He dominated a series known for its Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate (13-2). He owned the oldest rivalry the in Deep South (10-5) and took Tennessee out of the picture (10-5).
He never had a losing regular season and won 10 games nine times (and counting).
But Mark Richt never won the big one. And that’s why he will only be coaching in one more football game.
He raised the expectations of Georgia fans and was eventually crushed by what everyone thought should be a given in Athens.
The best thing that happened to the SEC was the worst thing for Mark Richt’s career. SEC schools won seven straight national championships. But Richt’s school was not included.
The official term for this is “we mutually agreed that he would step down as head coach.” That’s the quote attributed to athletics director McGarity in the university’s press release. He technically was not been fired. But I’m sure many people read into that differently. It sure doesn’t seem like Richt initiated this meeting on Sunday morning.
The school says Richt will have other opportunities to stay and be a “mentor to our student-athletes,” said UGA president Morehead. To Richt’s credit he says in this statement “I appreciate the opportunity of serving the University as well as considering any other options that may present themselves in the future.”
I doubt many people that have been wanting Mark Richt to go have ever met the man. The people that know Richt don’t just like him. They love him. That’s hard to overlook. Especially when you are trying to convince some 18-year-old superstar’s parents that you are really going to look after their son.
I don’t know of any school that has this “coach emeritus” position that apparently is on the table for Richt. But this might be the best way to handle a disappointing situation.
Because Georgia might be able to find a better football coach, but it can’t find a better man. That is worth something, right?
I sure hope McGarity and Morehead know what they are doing. I understand the reasons why Richt’s opponents want him gone and I’ll certainly concede that my pro-Richt position was becoming harder to stick with, especially these last three years.
It’s hard to argue that since the 2008 Sugar Bowl, Georgia has not met the expectations that have been set for the program.
I still think the current coach is the best person to fix it. But that will not happen.
I am excited for what’s to come and I sure hope I am dead wrong about this. Maybe Richt truly did hit his ceiling. Not many bosses keep their jobs in any profession for 15 years. Eventually you just want to hear from somebody else.
But man, I dread the possibility of what might happen. The chances of UGA turning into a Tennessee, Texas, Miami, Nebraska situation are much higher than anything else. Georgia will probably backslide because it’s going to be very hard to find the guy that can improve on what Richt has built.
But a probability does not mean a certainty. This is a great job and should attract the best candidates. There is room for improvement, just not much.
Eventually UGA will find the right guy. But it could very well take a while.
This was not the Golden Era of Georgia Football, but you could certainly award Richt the silver.
And that, in the end, is why it is over.
DAWGS TURN GATORS INTO JUST ANOTHER TEAM
Originally published Oct. 2017 on wsbradio.com
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – For so many years and so many times, when Georgia faces Florida it spends two weeks preparing for a grand unveiling.
Some new game plan, wrinkle, or new gimmick that -- for the previous two months -- no one thought was a good idea or hadn’t had time to dream up.
Black helmets, black pants, third-string quarterbacks, all-inclusive celebrations, throwing when you run and run when you throw. The list goes on and on.
Sometimes these ploys were necessary because the best team was not Georgia. Sometimes two weeks to think, is one week too long.
The Georgia-Florida game was treated twice as big as any other game. Maybe even bigger.
But in 2017, this was not the biggest game of the season. It was just the next game.
Georgia just beat Florida 42-7. It’s biggest Gator blowout since 1982. Almost as if, it was expected.
Maybe it was.
“I thought we came out with a really good demeanor and a good attitude,” said Kirby Smart on the UGA radio network after his first win as a head coach over Florida. “Throughout the game the kids had a really good focus. They were not distracted by streaks. Not letting the past affect the present, because we know that doesn’t happen.”
But for so long around here that has happened.
This game usually means a lot of taunting, trash-talking, scuffles, flags, near fights, actual fights and lots and lots of celebrating.
Today Georgia took a 7-0 lead before most of the tailgating was finished on a Nick Chubb TD run. Chubb – looking for his first win against Florida – hands the ball back to the ref and everybody jogs back to the sideline. Just like they drew it up.
Four minutes later, Jake Fromm – whose slants and simple passes were the topic of much discussion – threw a beautiful fade to Javon Wims. It’s 14-0.
Business and usual.
Before the quarter is over, Sony Michel breaks off Georgia’s longest run of the season. It’s 21-0. Against Florida. That hasn’t happened since 1970.
Ho hum.
Not until JR Reed’s scoop, score, and shoulder ride to make it 35-0 did the Dawgs finally celebrated like a team destroying their most hated conference rival.
“It’s a faceless opponent,” said UGA linebacker Lorenzo Carter (who also had never beaten Florida). “At the end of the day, it comes down to what we do. It is us competing against ourselves.”
We know for sure, Florida wasn’t competing against the Dawgs, because they had no shot.
This is not a good football. UF might be firing its coach. Three years ago, UGA was in a similar situation. A double-digit favorite against a .500 Florida team and it choked. Big time.
Today, there was no choke. This was just a joke.
“We dominated from the beginning,” said Javon Wims.
The scary part is domination isn’t good enough. Kirby has plenty he can complain about. And will.
“We want to play to a certain standard all the time,” said Smart. “We have to improve. We have to show better tackle and gang tackle. Offensively, it’s just execution. We got sloppy at times. It’s frustrating.”
Georgia’s coach just beat Florida 42-7 and he just said he’s frustrated.
Some kids could take that as a guy that’s too hard to please. Someone with impossible standards. But the culture has truly changed at Georgia to the point where nobody blinks.
UGA beat Florida by 35 points and you could certainly argue it could have played better. The Dawgs nearly ended the Gators 29-year streak of never getting shutout.
A reminder, last year, UGA rushed for 21 yards in this game. Total.
My, how far things have come.
“We are just keeping the circle tight,” said Sony Michel who had 137 rushing yards and two TDs on six carries. “Once you start playing for each other, you start having fun and you start winning.”
This night was more fun than a Bulldog has had in a long, long time in Jacksonville. But I suspect Bulldog Nation will be living this up more than the team will.
Just another win on the way to bigger and better things.
Georgia is 8-0. Florida is out of the way. Those bigger and better things are getting closer.
“We want to keep improving as we go down the stretch,” said Smart.
Usually there are big questions when Georgia goes north from this place. Now there’s only one.
Can Kirby Smart’s team improve enough to finish off this special season with something spectacular?
Those are the things you ask yourself when you’re 8-0.
Not a bad way to end a cocktail party.
THIS MIGHT BE MARK RICHT'S FINEST HOUR
Originally published on wsbradio.com October 2014. Was second-most shared story on website that year
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- This was an obvious pick. It was easy to see coming.
The Heisman trophy winner is out, leaving a team in chaos. It would be no contest. In fact, it might even be a shutout.
It was. Except everyone had the wrong team.
If anyone saw a 34-0 thumpin' coming, they saw it in Missouri's favor. I can safely say, not even the most diehard Georgia fan thought it would go the other way.
In one of the most chaotic 48 hours in school history, Georgia did something they've never ever done. Shutout an AP-ranked team on the road. The AP poll is pretty old.
Eventually you forgot about who wasn't here and praised those that were. UGA could have won this thing 60-0. Total domination. All day. Every way.
Yes, Nick Chubb was awesome and the defense was even better. But someone should give Mark Richt the game ball for this one.
Bless their heart, many Bulldog fans can take some really stupid positions sometimes. One of the dumbest is that Mark Richt doesn't have enough fire on the sidelines. He's too calm. He doesn't get emotional. All of that mess.
There's a quote (I'm not very cultured, I don't know who said it) about keeping your head when everyone around you is losing theirs. That's what you want in a coach. A day like this is why.
After the news of Todd Gurley's suspension broke on Thursday afternoon, it was utter insanity. The timing of the announcement worked out well, because all practices were over, and everyone was about to travel halfway across the country. But the players had to know before we did.
It should have been a major distraction. Honestly, I thought it would be too much to overcome. Not only did Richt find a way to keep this team together, but he pulled out of them their best game of the season. Maybe one of the best games in years.
"Everybody came together," said Mark Richt. "We had a great week of practice and we were moving toward a performance like this. I don't know if the news about Todd moved everyone to play like this, but we played like a team."
Boy did they ever.
The Voice of the Dawgs Scott Howard said when he interviewed Richt on Friday night that he was very much at peace and very ready for this game. Not like a guy who had just lost the best player in the country.
Lesser men would have been freaked out. They might not have gone nuts in front of their team, but players pick up on that stuff. For better or worse, they followed the head man.
He led them to the right spot today.
Nick Chubb gets 38 carries and 143 yards as the stand-in. Gurley never got the ball that much. Chubb's workload is fifth-highest in school history. In his first start.
The offensive line was there to run the ball 58 times. They allowed two sacks to one of the best pass rushes in the league. The Dawgs had the ball for more than 42 minutes. Almost three whole quarters.
I have said that Georgia's weakest link is their secondary. So has the defensive coordinator. So has everyone else. I don't know if we can say that anymore. Five turnovers. Four interceptions. That's the most since the 2008 Sugar Bowl against Hawai'i.
The defense allowed 147 total yards. Fifty of it on the ground. Missouri ran four plays in Georgia territory. Three of those were turnovers.
This was a ranked team, people. The team that beat South Carolina. On its home field. Bulldog Nation better thank whomever you thank that Mark Richt is on your side.
"We've seen this time and time again from Coach Richt's football teams," said UGA radio analyst Eric Zeier," the next man up mentality. Blocking out all the noise and getting locked in on those things you have to control. That's exactly what this football team did."
The tangible reward Georgia earns from this game is huge. They are now in first place, and clearly in the driver seat to win the division. But it's gained a whole lot more than that.
I was really starting to think this team was the Georgia Gurleys. Now everyone knows they aren't.
Please thank the head coach for that.
BULLDOG NATION INVADES NOTRE DAME AND LEAVES ITS MARK
Originally published on wsbradio.com in Sept 2017
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Georgia beat the University of Notre Dame in its first trip to South Bend.
For months and years, Bulldog Nation has had this game circled. UGA fans from all over doing everything they could to get here to see it in person. Some spending way too much money to do it.
But no one will say they didn’t get their money’s worth tonight.
Georgia beat Notre Dame 20-19. With maybe 30-thousand people in red and black living it up.
It was truly unreal.
And the Dawgs didn’t even play well.
What a night. What a weekend.
“What a great college game atmosphere,” said Kirby Smart on the UGA radio network on WSB. “To be able to play in this game, these kids will remember this game forever.”
However, those words were not the first out of the winning coach’s mouth. It was not a first reaction of amazement and pride that the Dawgs made their longest trip up north in more than 40 years and won.
It was one of frustration because the needs-improvement list was a little long.
“I’m thrilled for the result,” said Smart. “But I’m not thrilled by the process we took to get there. We tried to give this game away so many times.”
Yes, King Kirby is right. Georgia rallied to beat Notre Dame on a night they should have ran the Irish back into the big Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the north end of campus.
Georgia committed 11 penalties for 127 yards. Most in a game in five years. There were turnovers and drops and missed blocks and sacks and bad throws and missed field goals.
Frankly, if this was Florida and Jacksonville, Georgia probably loses, because isn’t this the kind of game the Dawgs lose on a big stage?
So what does it say that, with all this hype and pomp and circumstance, that Georgia picked up a W on this field with a C-minus performance?
It might say that the Irish might not be that good. But it certainly says that Georgia’s D earned an A grade because the Gold Domes were getting stuffed most of the night.
“That just shows the defense we have,” said Lorenzo Carter who was nearly unblockable. “If we play the way we play, it wears on people.”
Carter certainly wore out these giant Catholic boys tonight. Notre Dame has at least two potential first-round picks up front. All five guys top 300 pounds. It’s an SEC offensive line that couldn’t block the Dawgs.
Nine tackles for loss, 55 rushing yards on 37 carries. That’s an average of 1.5 yards. Remember this is the same team that topped 400 yards on the ground against Temple. I’m aware it’s Temple, but still. ND should at least look competent.
Tonight they were inept.
“Those guys just kept choppin’ wood,” Smart said of his defense. “They never stopped.”
QB Brandon Wimbush was said to be one of the fastest, most dynamic players on this team at any position. He had 16 carries and one rushing yard.
One.
It could have been at lot worse if Wimbush wasn’t as mobile as he was, because he was running for his life quite a bit. UGA had three sacks. It could have been six. At least Davin Bellamy got his to end the game. What a hit.
And they needed every single one of them. Because the offense didn’t really provide much help.
The Jake Fromm for Hall of Fame train got derailed here in the rust belt. He played like a freshman making his first start anywhere, let alone in college football’s cathedral.
The numbers are mediocre 16-for-29 for 141 with a TD (wow what a catch by Terry Godwin), one interception and a fumbled exchange that set up the Irish’s only TD. But, while the freshman didn’t win it, he sure didn’t blow it.
“I think this will be a great learning experience for him,” said Smart. “You got to figure he’s going to grow a lot from playing in this kind of atmosphere.”
UGA’s young offensive line still didn’t dominate, but did enough to open up holes for Sony Michel and Nick Chubb to combine for 136 yards. Plus freshman bullet back D’Andre Swift picked up another 42 on two carries.
It was the classic formula. Play great defense, run the ball and you’ll win. Something that’s happened in this stadium hundreds of times before, but never by a bunch of southerners wearing Red and Black, barking like Dawgs and enjoying the trip of a lifetime.
It was an unforgettable week for all involved. From Wrigley Field to Notre Dame Stadium. The state of Georgia did itself proud. This whole experience lived up to the hype for a lot of people.
And since Touchdown Jesus is still staring at me over my right shoulder, I can say, thank God the game lived up to the hype too.
ALL QUESTIONS ARE FAIR AFTER THE DAWGS IMPLODE IN JACKSONVILLE
Originally published on wsbradio.com October 2016
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- I have a computer screen full of stats and notes to explain how truly awful Georgia's offense played against Florida, but this might be the most damning number of all.
Georgia had 59 more total yards in last year’s game, with Faton Bauta making his one and only start at quarterback, than it did this year.
That decision might have been the last straw in the Mark Richt Era. This game will cast plenty of doubt on the new regime.
Last year's game was the worst I've ever seen a Georgia offense look. Until tonight.
Without fail it seems, the Gators always seem to bring out the truth about the University of Georgia. So in 2016 we know, the Dawgs were a much better team at the start of September than they are at the end of October.
In case you're wondering, forward is in the other direction.
If there's a time machine anywhere in this part of Florida, the Georgia fans still here would pay a lot to push a button and go back to that happy, fun time in Atlanta against North Carolina.
In September, Georgia seemed like the class of the SEC East. Kirby Smart had all the answers, Jim Chaney’s offensive mind was pure brilliance and Sam Pittman's line looked like it was going to squish anyone that got in the way. Nick Chubb had 58 more rushing yards in that opener than Georgia had total yards today.
Total yards:164. Rushing yards: 21. Second-half yards: 47. Second-half rushing yards: 2.
Florida's defense is one of the best in the country, but today Georgia made them look like the best in the world.
You have my permission to be sick.
"It's frustrating because I really thought we would be able to run the ball in this game," said Smart. "I thought we could move them up front and get the thing started."
Georgia's offensive line sure did do a lot of moving, but the heels were hitting first.
It's going to take quarterback Jacob Eason a long time before he stops seeing blue jerseys in his sleep. The stat people here say he was hurried 16 times and sacked twice. It felt like it was about 80.
“That’s what they do best," said Smart. "They’ve got some really good pass rushers. (Eason) made some throws that helped us, but we couldn’t sustain it. We were one-dimensional, and that made it tough.”
After what we've seen the last two weeks, all thoughts and expectations of this Georgia team must be thrown out the window.
An offensive line that has some talent can't be counted on for much.
A Heisman Trophy caliber running back can hardly get out of the backfield.
Special teams. Well that's still a gigantic issue. And a whole other column.
A group that won 10 games a season ago, now might not make a bowl game. Eight weeks ago, a return to the Georgia Dome for the SEC Championship game was very doable. Now it might be the Birmingham Bowl or bust.
4-4. 2-4 in SEC play. Georgia hasn't won a Saturday since it stole one against Missouri in Game 3. So Coach Smart, where do we go from here?
"You talk about it. You are open about it and realize the way to improve is go out, practice and get better. We've improved in some areas, just not enough."
Yes, Georgia's defense has been very solid. They've allowed 402 total yards in two games, with 162 of that on the ground. All that's gotten them is two losses.
But even that is not without its issues.
The Dawgs defense has to make a lot of plays, but it's still getting hit with the big ones at bad times. Florida was 9-for-18 on third downs, with some huge backbreakers.
"You've got to get off the field on third downs," said Smart. "You have to stop 3-and-10 90 percent of the time and we gave up two."
That's how thin the margin of error is right now. Georgia is one third-down mistake, one penalty one the goal line, one bad punt (or several) away from a big problem.
Rebuilding is hard and the results aren't usually what you hope for, but you certainly aren't at fault for thinking things would get this bad.
There are very few minds Kirby Smart and his Bulldogs will be able to change in the next four weeks. The doubts are exploding and it will hard to be squashed.
Maybe one day Bulldog Nation can look back on this and giggle.
Remember how bad things were as it watches a dynasty in 2020. But they don't make time machines for that either.
The only thing to hope for now are signs of turnaround and a state championship.
Because it can get a lot worse from here.