This week, I'm going to try my best to include perspective on the Tech game itself as well as the season as a whole.
There are a lot of pieces to pick up, so let's just hop right into this.
1) The most frustrating team I can remember.
It was maddening this season how inconsistently this team played, including Saturday. When Georgia built a 27-14 lead (one that could have easily been in the area of 38-14 if not for stalled drives and missed opportunities), I knew it wasn't going to last.
My hope was that the Dogs would survive. I knew it wouldn't be that easy.
Lo and behold, I was correct, as Georgia managed — once again — to find a new way to lose a game, this time throwing a bad interception with six minutes to play, leading by six points, allowing a game winning drive over the next five-and-a-half minutes.
It's really maddening when you think about this teeter-totter season, and how different the narrative would be if not for just a handful of plays.
Consider this, and I mean it in all seriousness. (I'll explain later.)
The Bulldogs are three — THREE! — plays from being 10-2.
Yes, there are three plays that flipped the entire season from 10-2 to 7-5. The first, and most obvious, is the Hail Mary against Tennessee.
Let's say it gets knocked away. Georgia wins 31-28, and now we're looking at 8-4.
The next was the dumb fourth down call against Vanderbilt. This isn't nearly as cut and dry, but let's say we hand it to Nick Chubb instead of Isaiah McKenzie, who pushes the pile for a first down. Jacob Eason keeps the team moving, and Rodrigo Blankenship arrives on the football scene a little bit earlier, kicking the game winner.
19-17. 9-3.
Then, there's the passing call on second down against the Yellow Jackets. Heck, even if Eason just throws a better pass, Godwin probably makes the catch and gets close to a first down. Georgia moves the chains and runs out enough of the clock to squelch Tech's comback drive.
27-21. 10-2.
Imagine how much everyone would be lauding Kirby Smart if that were the case. Instead, there are people are already wishing we'd never gotten rid of Mark Richt.
Regardless, that ship has sailed.
(It's also way too early to declare Smart any form of failure or genuis, if you want my two cents. That declaration can be made over the next few seasons.)
2) Pipe dreams.
Some people theorize that Chubb and/or Sony Michel will pass up the NFL for one final, redemptive season, perhaps to recover some fallen draft stock thanks to some horrendous play by this year's offensive line, which actually played well Saturday. (The Dogs out-rushed the Jackets, and still managed to lose.)
Yeah right.
Running backs don't last long in the NFL. There's entirely too much punishment handed out on any given play for a running back to stick around a while.
Even if Chubb and Michel are late round picks, they will still be set for life if they only play a year or two. I just can't see any reason why they would jeopardize that by playing another year and risking a catastrophic injury. (Especially Chubb, who's already gone through that once.)
There is hope, however, that guys like Dominick Sanders and Lorenzo Carter stick it out for another year, a la Jarvis Jones and Baccari Rambo.
3) Another uninspiring bowl.
What's so weird — going back to that "three plays" thing — is that Georgia wasn't that far from the Sugar Bowl.
Yes, I'm being serious.
The Sugar Bowl is obligated to take the highest ranked SEC team that isn't in the playoff.
Barring something crazy this coming Saturday (and even then.) we can safely assume Alabama will be in the Final Four.
...but then who's next?
Is it Florida? They finished the regular season 8-3, and would be coming off a loss to Bama.
Perhaps Tennessee? The Vols are 8-4, and just gave up 45 points in a loss to Vanderbilt.
The other options would be LSU (7-4), Auburn (8-4) or Texas A&M (8-4), the latter of which is playing its backup quarterback.
All that to say that the Dogs might be just a couple plays away from teh Sugar Bowl. Knock away the Hail Mary and don't throw a pick Saturday, and the 9-3 Bulldogs might be in great shape to go to New Orleans for the first time since 2007.
Instead, we can probably expect to go to Memphis for the Liberty Bowl or Nashville for the Music City Bowl.
Either way, not that exciting.
Same ol', same ol'.
I'm happy for basketball season.
