Georgia football: Dawgs again add to the misery of Atlanta’s sports curse
Georgia football fans had to suffer through another defeat to Alabama as well as another notch in the curse of Atlanta sports.
It was another heartbreaking defeat for the Georgia football program, and another tick-mark put up for the “curse” of Atlanta and its tortured sports fans.
Before you ask, yes…the University of Georgia is considered part of Atlanta sports. The campus is a mere 90 minutes away from downtown Atlanta, and the fanbase stretches from one end of the state to the other with a heavy concentration of fans in metro Atlanta.
Even local Atlanta news stations and papers give more attention to UGA sports than they do Georgia Tech, which is squarely located in downtown Atlanta.
So when you talk about Atlanta sports and the pain it seems to inevitably cause, Georgia football has to reside in the conversation.
But, I digress.
As to the action at Bryant-Denny Stadium on a cool October evening in 2020, the Crimson Tide once again had the Bulldogs exactly where they wanted them…
With Alabama down by a score as the second half of the game began.
For the third straight time.
And Alabama came roaring back in the second half of the game to win it.
For the third straight time.
One time is oops. Two times can be a coincidence. Three straight times? That’s a pattern, and Kirby Smart seems to not know how to break it.
The blame pie can be cut into many pieces. Bad officiating (that’s always a factor when Alabama is involved), poor execution by some key players, bad breaks for Georgia, and just being in Tuscaloosa in prime time has to be taken into account.
But there is one player who is shouldering a lot of the blame, and quite unfairly. Because although Stetson Bennett‘s performance was far from what seemed to be needed to topple the mighty Crimson Tide, it was his coaches — Kirby Smart, Todd Monken, and even Cortez Hankton — who placed Bennett in a position to fail miserably.
And that’s exactly what he did.
In Georgia’s first two drives, resulting in an interception and a 3-and-out punt respectively, the Bulldogs ran the ball exactly zero times.
The next five Georgia drives of the first half consisted of 15 runs for 88 yards and 24 points – the last points Georgia would score in the game.
Georgia was running the ball with some success, even when Alabama was stacking the box in anticipation of a running play. That strategy was abandoned after the first two series of the second half. With Georgia behind by just three points, Todd Monken decided that airing the ball out was the way to beat the Tide.
Things couldn’t have gone any worse.
The 5’11 Bennett was having passes swatted away like mosquitoes all night long, and obstructed passing lanes helped contribute to his three interceptions. While some might say a quarterback that short is going to have passed deflected, here’s a reminder that Drew Brees is only an inch taller than Bennett.
The Alabama defensive linemen and linebackers were coached to get their hands in the air every time they saw Bennett drop back and cock his arm.
Conversely, Bennett was (apparently) not coached on how to combat that strategy.
Even if Georgia wasn’t going to run the ball, moving the pocket around, forcing defenders to chase Bennett (who has shown he has sneaky-good elusiveness on the edge) might have been an advisable approach rather than having him stand pat in a continually collapsing pocket.
It was as if the evil spirit of Atlanta sports curses entered the press box and inhabited the body of Todd Monken for the better part of the second half, ensuring the Tide would once again overcome a team who had outplayed them for the majority of the game.
Georgia football not immune to Atlanta’s bad fortune.
This curse — and it’s becoming quite real in the minds of players and coaches who are part of the Atlanta sports Bermuda Triangle — needs to end. It’s beyond comical and is now causing severe psychological damage to some of the most laid-back, hospitable people in the nation.
See for yourself:
https://twitter.com/taralynn9_/status/1317692413293531136?s=20
Yes, it’s getting ugly in Atlanta and Athens, and the worst part?
Georgia and Alabama are likely to meet again in the SEC Championship Game. Should that game end up in a similar fashion it could have apocalyptic results with Georgia fans that make Sherman’s march look like a mere skirmish.
Run the ball, Monken.
Use your legs, Bennett.
Burn your sage, Bulldog Nation.
This curse must end.