Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Bulldogs putting 2nd and 26 to bed
ATLANTA — The play will run on repeat in the minds of Georgia fans for an eternity.
That second and 26 in overtime against No. 4 Alabama in the College Football Playoff championship game was a dagger.
Georgia led 23-20 and had just sacked Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa for a 16-yard loss on the first snap of the Crimson Tide’s overtime sequence.
Seconds later, Tagovailoa unleashed a left-handed pass, just ahead of the Georgia rush and the football found its target, DeVonta Smith, beyond the secondary and in the end zone for a 41-yard touchdown to end the game in stunning fashion.
Just like that, Georgia’s incredible run to the SEC championship and the brink of its
first national title since Herschel Walker’s freshman year in 1980, came to an end.
Second-year Coach Kirby Smart had broken an eightyear run of SEC West teams claiming the conference title, but he couldn’t defeat his mentor Nick Saban with all the marbles at stake.
Smart said the Bulldogs have embraced the devastating loss for what it was and have learned to propel the experience into the upcoming season.
“We’re on to next year,” Smart said. “We’re on to the new recruit. We’re on to the next strategy, whether tactical, mental or physical. We’re constantly looking for the next edge for next year. It’s something we don’t have to rehash all of the time.”
The Bulldogs have taken different approaches to that defining second and long.
“I feel like you keep it with you,” Georgia defensive lineman Jonathan Ledbetter said. “You don’t put it as your main focus, but I feel like if you focus on that, you’re not going to win any games. But you keep that close to you. You remember that feeling and you let that drive you and fuel you to where you want to go.”
Defensive back JR Reed had a different take on the play when asked what came to his mind when the term “second and 26” is mentioned.
“Uhh, national championship? I don’t know,” Reed said.
“It’s not discussed at all. We’re players, not fans, so we don’t get hung up on things like that. We’ve got to move on to the next play. We’ve got to move on to the next game. There’s always something else. You’ve just got to keep pushing.”
The Bulldogs are expected to keep pushing at the top of the SEC under Smart, the former Bulldogs defensive back who has quickly vaulted into the upper tier of Saban proteges who are challenging him for superiority at the top of the game.
“I feel like we have just as much talent as we did last year,” Ledbetter said. “Our leadership is starting to develop. I really feel like we’re going up and up in the right direction.”
The Bulldogs will have to overcome many key losses to repeat as SEC champions, starting with the dynamic duo of running backs Sony Michel and Nick Chubb, who were taken with the No. 31 and 34 picks, respectively, in the NFL Draft.
“Losing those two guys has a tremendous effect, because those two guys carried the ball for us a lot and we really depended on them,” senior receiver Terry Godwin said. “We know the guys we have now, and the guys coming in are going to be good.”
A large swath of the nation’s No. 6 defense — which allowed 294.9 yards per game — are now gone, including linebackers Roquan Smith, Davin Bellamy, Reggie Carter and Lorenzo Carter, as well as safeties Dominick Sanders and Aaron Davis and nose guard John Atkins.
However, there is key personnel returning on both sides of the ball.
While five-star quarterback Jacob Eason has transferred to Washington, there are two five-star players in his wake in Jake Fromm and freshman Justin Fields, a metro Atlanta product. Fromm’s emergence — he went 181 of 291 passing (.622) for 2,615 yards — and was 12-2 as the starter after Eason suffered a knee injury in the season opener.
When Eason returned from the injury, Fromm kept the job and was 8-0 before a 40-17 loss to Auburn on Nov. 11. He and the Bulldogs got revenge three weeks later in a 28-7 victory in the SEC Championship Game.
Sophomore DeAndre Swift appears ready to take up lead tailback duties after he managed 618 yards and three rushing touchdowns in relief of Chubb and Michel last year.
The schedule looks to fall
favorably for the Bulldogs as well. Georgia’s likely toughest game, against Auburn, will come between the hedges in Athens, Ga. The Bulldogs toughest road date looks to be at South Carolina, a team they have beaten by a combined 60 points the last three years.
Smart had a Saban-esque feel to his remarks at SEC media days.
He said the Bulldogs should feel privileged to operate under the heavy pressure of high expectations.
“Everybody is talking about the expectations,” Smart said. “Last year this time, they were talking about the same expectations for the University of Georgia.
“Georgia is expected to do this, to win the East, to win championships. Those are things we embrace. … We can’t run from those things. We know that. If pressure is a privilege, how you manage that and how you embrace that and our coaching staff getting the effectiveness of our players out is what’s important to us.”
Godwin said the Bulldogs understand there will be bumps in the road in trying to win another SEC title.
“We’re focused on getting better every day and improving on what we didn’t do or didn’t have last year,” he said.
Smart said the hurt of last year’s finale can’t live on.
“The challenge for us is not to measure this year’s team against last year’s.”