For the first time this season, we have a loss to examine. The silver lining, I suppose, is that we managed to navigate all the way into November before we had to cross that bridge, so we're headed in the right direction.
But still, it stings.
A 40-17 defeat at the hands of an arch-enemy will do that.
Let's work through this together.
1) Georgia has only itself to blame for the game turning into a blowout.
Make the field goal (and take a shot, for crying out loud!) at the end of the half, hit the two wide open receivers, don't muff a punt and we're probably talking about a 30-24 game in the fourth quarter, instead of 30-7.
Would Auburn still have won? Yeah, there's a good chance of it, but you never know.
All this is to say: I'm not scared of rematching the Tigers on a neutral field, should they beat Alabama and win the SEC West.
Auburn is not invincible. They just played their best game of 2017 on the same field where the Bulldogs played (by far) their worst.
And still, a few plays could've been the difference in this being a tight game.
Make a few fixes, shake off the jitters, and this team can be beaten in Atlanta.
Or at the very least, the game should be more competitive.
2) What the heck was going on at the end of the first half?
I touched on this above, but why in the holy heck didn't we at least take one throw to the end zone?
With 22 seconds remaining, Mecole Hardman returned a punt to the Auburn 25-yard line, setting up a chance for some points, trailing 16-7.
Rather than throw to the goal line, Kirby Smart elected to run the ball outside with Sony Michel, gaining essentially nothing, then spiking it to set up a field goal at the horn, which the normally sure-footed Rodrigo Blankenship pushed wide.
To me, with that strategy (and I angry-tweeted it during the game, go check for yourself) in that situation, Georgia deserved no points on that drive. It was a waving of the white flag.
Smart said leading up to the game that he wanted "to hunt" rather than be the hunted.
That sequence at the end of the half put the Dawgs squarely in the "hunted" category, in my opinion.
3) No team is as good or bad as its previous performance.
This applies to the whole season, really, but let's examine it.
Remember that 41-0 thrashing of Tennessee in Knoxville? Well, that was pretty sweet, all those weeks ago.
The Vols lost 50-17 to Missouri this weekend and fired their coach.
Georgia might not be as good as they looked that day, but that means it also isn't as bad as it looked Saturday.
I try to remember 2012, when the Bulldogs were achingly close to playing for the national championship. That 35-7 beatdown by South Carolina in Columbia?
It would've been nothing more than a blip on the radar had we gained just five more yards in the Georgia Dome.
I'm hoping Saturday turns out the same way. The season, the SEC Championship and the College Football Playoff are all still on the table for the taking.
And Saturday could just be a speed bump on the road to the title.
4) The look ahead.
Kentucky comes into this game 7-3 on the season, but it may well be the shakiest 7-3 team on the planet.
Seven of the Wildcats' games have been decided by nine points or less.
Early Vegas lines like Georgia by 21, which seems a touch high to me, but you can never easily peg down the "let down" factor that could come with the game, or the potential distraction of Senior Day.
I think the Bulldogs win easily, but not by 21. Somewhere in the ballpark of 31-14 would seem about right to me.
