Georgia lost to Alabama again Saturday night in a game that very easily could have gone their way. A few key mistakes and bad play calls ultimately cost Georgia the opportunity to take full control of their destiny to make it to the SEC Championship game and College Football Playoff.
While Georgia fans will likely want to focus on UGA's inability to beat the Crimson Tide, the fact that their journey to make it to the SEC title game and CFP became infinitely more difficult is the biggest reason why this loss is so devastating.
Georgia faces difficult road to make SEC title game, earn CFP berth
It is important to note that all of Georgia's goals are still in front of them. Just last year Georgia lost to Alabama early in the season but still went on to win the SEC and make it to the College Football Playoff. Those are still Georgia's goals this season even after this loss, but their path to accomplish both is extremely daunting.
Georgia will need to win their final six SEC games to guarantee their spot in the SEC Championship game. One more loss could be enough to eliminate them from contention since a 2-loss Texas A&M team failed to make it to Atlanta last year. So Georgia needs to run the table to rest of the season in order to make the title game without any outside help.
Looking at Georgia's schedule the rest of the season shows how difficult this will be. UGA still has to play Texas and Ole Miss at home along with difficult games against Auburn and Florida. Mississippi State is even proving to be a solid team this year. At this point going 5-0 in these games feels unlikely to happen, but that is what Georgia is going to have to do.
Georgia also faces a difficult road to make the CFP this season as well. The Bulldogs can afford one more loss before they will be left out of the playoff, but it doesn't feel like a guarantee Georgia will go 10-2 at this point. That is especially the case because Georgia Tech is undefeated this year and will present a huge challenge at the end of the season.
While Georgia's loss to Alabama is bad from a narrative's standpoint, this loss makes their life very difficult when it comes to accomplishing all of their goals this season. But UGA was able to overcome this loss last year, so maybe they can do it again.