Georgia football: Sugar Bowl meaningless, or a larger issue in program

Georgia football had a good comeback in the Sugar Bowl, but they lost to Texas 28-21 to end the 2018 season. The Dawgs finish the year 11-3.

What went wrong Tuesday night? Something had to have gone horribly wrong, because that was not a typical 2018 Georgia football team performance. The offense was stagnant all game long against a mediocre defense. The Georgia defense played well for much of the game, but they struggled to maintain field position after punts.

Clearly, that was a Georgia team that would have rather been somewhere else, Probably Miami or Dallas in the playoffs. Which does sound familiar if you are a Kirby Smart follower, since he was the defensive coördinator when Alabama lost embarrassing games to Utah and Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl. The question on everyone’s mind after the Sugar Bowl: Is Georgia poor performance against Texas in the same vein as those Alabama Sugar Bowl losses? Or is it indicative of a more serious issue within the program?

Point A: the loss is no different from Alabama’s

Alabama isn’t just a great team because of their talent or history. They’re great because they have a mindset teams are only now beginning to grasp: only National Championships matter. Not SEC Championships, bowl championships, divisional titles. The only spot that matters is the top.

That mentality hasn’t produced five National Championships in nine years at Alabama, but two of those titles came in years in which the Tide didn’t even play in the SEC Championship. That’s why they dominate so much, to stay in the top five through the season even with a loss. To stay in the conversation even if they lose the SEC West.

Having that mindset towards championships have clearly paid off, but not without a price. Alabama fans have had to endure a pair of embarrassing losses in the Sugar Bowl. In Nick Saban’s second year, the Tide started the year 12-0 and just needed to beat Florida in Atlanta to play for their first National Championship in 16 years. But the Gators won, relegating the Tide to the Sugar Bowl against undefeated Utah.

Alabama gave up 21 points in the first quarter, trailed 21-10 at halftime, and eventually lost 31-17. To Utah. We could never imagine a team of Utah’s caliber (at the time they were in the Mountain West Conference) defeating Alabama, much less controlling the entire game. But it happened on January 1, 2009. The loss cast doubts about the future of the program under Saban, but those doubts were squashed throughout the following four seasons, From 2009-to-2012, Alabama won three National Championships.

In 2013, after starting the season 11-0, the Crimson Tide lost to Auburn in the de-facto SEC West Championship Game. The Tigers won the SEC and went on to play in the last BCS National Championship Game. Alabama again had to settle for the Sugar Bowl against Oklahoma. They again came in as heavy favorites, 17.5 points to be exact. Instead of playing like a team who just ended a 15-game winning streak, they allowed Oklahoma to run up 45 points on them. Alabama lost 45-31.

Was this loss the beginning of the end of the Alabama dynasty? Of course not, since then, Alabama has gone on to win two more championships. Because to them, only National Championships matter. A non-playoff bowl is just a meaningless bowl to them, a game to play some younger guys to get them some reps before the spring. To them, their season ended when they missed out on the National Championship. Anything after that point is just preparation for the next season.

In Georgia’s loss to Texas, you can certainly see shades of that. senior linebacker D’Andre Walker, who dressed up despite injuring his groin, never played a down, even though the defense was struggling. Coaches instead played Brenton Cox and Robert Beal more than they had all year. There was a little bit of speculation that Smart wanted Deandre Baker to sit out, so he could see Tyson Campbell and Eric Stokes play together. Freshmen Azeez Ojulari and Divaad Wilson played a ton of snaps against Texas after neither playing all year (both should still be freshmen in 2019).

Does sound like a 2018 Georgia defense to you? It sounds to me like Smart and the coaches were wanting to get some players some valuable reps before the spring. As if they treated the Sugar Bowl as little more than a pre-spring game.

Point B: there’s a more serious issue to worry about

It’s easy to chalk up the loss in the Sugar Bowl to being no different that Alabama’s losses. Maybe it’s too easy. Maybe the loss to Texas in indicative of a more serious issue. The loss is the 10th of the Kirby Smart era. The average margin in those 10 losses is 11 points. Four of those losses have been double-digit losses.

The loss to Texas wasn’t by double-digits, but it felt like it. The offense didn’t show up again until the final minutes of the game, and a failed onsides kick squashed any hopes of a comeback. But it should have never gotten to that point.

Since the Smart era began, every loss has been excruciating. Rather it’s been a blowout to a team who had no business blowing Georgia out, or losing a close game the Dawgs should have won. There aren’t any respectable beatings outside the loss to Florida in 2016.

We shouldn’t have to question the team’s preparation for half of their losses. I at least don’t believe we should. But through three seasons with Kirby Smart, we’ve had to. Against Texas a few nights ago, we had to again.

Yes, the 2016 team was going through a period of transition across the board. The 2017 team did redeem the embarrassing loss to Auburn with a win in the rematch and an appearance in the National Championship Game. The 2018 team still ends the season in the conversation about who’s the best. And a more mature and experienced team will take the field in 2019 and 2020. The growing pains may be over, and the painful losses may have been a symptom of those growing pains.

We’ll find out the answer to this question in the upcoming season. Georgia can prove the loss to Texas is just part of the “only National Championships matter” mentality by returning to the playoffs. But another season featuring ugly losses to equal or inferior foes may prove that there are larger issues in the program. Only time will tell, until then, we’ll just have to wait through another inglorious offseason.