Bulldogs vs. Texas in Sugar
Georgia and Texas have never met before in a Sugar Bowl.
Kirby Smart and Tom Herman, the two competing coaches, have.
The No. 5 Bulldogs (11-2) and the No. 14 Longhorns (9-4) will vie at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans on New Year’s night at 8:45 Eastern. The two teams dropped their league championship games on Saturday, with Georgia falling 35-28 to Alabama in the Southeastern Conference title contest and Texas succumbing 39-27 to Oklahoma for the Big 12 prize.
Smart was Alabama’s defensive coordinator and Herman the Ohio State offensive coordinator during the 2014 season, when the Buckeyes defeated the Crimson Tide 42-35 in a Sugar Bowl national semifinal in the inaugural four-team College Football Playoff. Herman then helped guide Ohio State to a win over Oregon in the national championship game before becoming the head coach of the Houston Cougars
for two seasons and then arriving at Texas.
“That is an interesting factoid, that both of us competed against each other as coordinators in the Sugar Bowl just four years ago,” Herman said Sunday. “I don’t know a whole lot about Georgia. I’m in Iowa recruiting right now, but we’ll spend some time certainly diving into their X’s and O’s. I’ve seen the statistics, though, and they’re in the top 20 of nearly every offensive and defensive statistic.
“From statistics alone, it looks like a very balanced team, but we know what they’ve been able to do. They played in the national championship game last year and were on the verge of the playoffs this year. Kirby has got that thing rolling.”
Herman went 22-4 in his two years at Houston and is 16-10 with the Longhorns. Smart left Alabama a year after Herman left Ohio State, with Smart having compiled a 32-9 record that includes two SEC title-game trips with one win.
“I’ve been good friends with Tom since our game with Ohio State,” Smart said. “We’ve kept in touch. We’ve shared ideas and thoughts, and I have used him as a trusted friend and resource.”
Georgia was No. 4 in the playoff rankings entering Saturday’s SEC championship game and led Alabama 28-14 before the Crimson Tide scored the final three touchdowns. The Bulldogs were the first team to play Alabama within 22 points this season, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Oklahoma from supplanting Georgia as the fourth playoff invitee.
The Bulldogs did finish ahead of Big Ten champion Ohio State, which improved to 12-1 Saturday night with a 45-24 win over Northwestern, with CFP selection committee chair and Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens admitting that choosing among Oklahoma, Georgia and Ohio State wasn’t easy.
“We’re looking at the full bodies of work, and we understand that the charge is to get the four best teams,” Mullens told ESPN. “When you’re looking at all that, everything matters — eye test, data, it all gets discussed. I can assure you that every combination was discussed in the room.
“There was strong debate and even division, and we went until early in the morning and got back after it after a couple of hours of sleep.”
Smart was diplomatic Sunday, admitting the committee has a difficult task, but he doesn’t have much clarity as far as how things shook out.
“Eventually there will be a two-loss team get in,” Smart said. “Had Auburn beaten us last year, they would have been the first to do it, and they would have been conference champions. The two-loss conversation would have been out of the way, but the two-loss non-champion is something they’ve never done. I’m not crying over spilled milk. We had our opportunities in the Alabama game and did not take advantage of them.
“I think we’re one of the four best teams in the country, but I also know that we’re not in the playoffs.”
Odds and ends
Georgia and Texas are meeting in the postseason for the first time since the Bulldogs handed the 1983 Longhorns their first defeat with a 10-9 Cotton Bowl upset. … This will be the 10th Sugar Bowl trip for the Bulldogs, representing their most frequent postseason destination. … After stating Saturday that Georgia “deserves to be in the playoff as well,” Alabama coach Nick Saban voted the Bulldogs No. 5 in Sunday’s Amway coaches poll ballot that was made public.