Will Smart back Dawgs into corner?
Being good but not good enough is familiar story
ATLANTA — A Georgia Bulldogs fan of several decades marched over to a table of four sportswriters Friday at the downtown Hyatt Regency with a gripe caught in his craw.
Why was top-ranked Georgia only favored by a touchdown against No. 2 Alabama in Saturday's SEC Championship game after running roughshod over its competition throughout the regular season? He'd been a Georgia fan since before its last national championship in 1980 and this was the best Bulldogs team he'd witnessed.
Well, this is awkward then, isn't it? Georgia asserted dominance over Alabama for one quarter. Then, the Tide rolled, scoring 21 consecutive points during one stretch of a a 41-24 victory at Mercedes-benz Stadium.
A familiar story for coach Kirby Smart's Bulldogs — good, but not good enough.
This was essentially a free swing for Georgia (12-1), though. Barring the selection committee doing something goofy, Georgia will be in the four-team playoff field when it's announced Sunday.
The Bulldogs' season will be remembered for what comes next. Georgia won the SEC Championship in 2017 — Alabama didn't play in the game — but the season's lasting note became the Crimson Tide's rally to beat the Bulldogs 2623 in overtime of the national championship.
“That's an opportunity for a wakeup call, if anything — unfortunate that it comes in a setting like this,” Smart said of Saturday's loss.
Maybe, or maybe Alabama (12-1) woke up after walking the tightrope throughout November with one-score victories over LSU, Arkansas and Auburn.
If Georgia squanders this season, it will be backed into a corner with Smart. He's built too good of a program and won too many games to toss overboard. But if Smart can't win a national championship with the best team he's assembled, then is the rest of his tenure just a repeated quest for second place?
What should concern Georgia most isn't that it lost, but how it lost.
If Georgia put its best foot forward — its best foot being a strong defensive effort — and lost in a low-scoring slugfest, it could tip its cap and expect the scale might tilt the other way in a possible rematch.
If Alabama deployed a handful of successful trick plays or swung the tide with some special-teams exploits, the Bulldogs could chalk that up as a fluke that might not happen again.
This wasn't that.
This was the nation's best quarterback and Alabama's talented wide receivers staring down the nation's top-ranked defense and making it look like a bunch of lead-footed chumps.
Alabama's offensive line that had played so mediocre for three months fashioned itself into a vintage Tide line, seemingly overnight.
Smart faced a question afterward about whether he'd re-evaluate Stetson Bennett IV as the team's starting quarterback ahead of the postseason, but don't let Bennett's two interceptions distract from the main takeaway: Georgia's strength is its defense, and Alabama quarterback Bryce Young made that defense look pedestrian.
Georgia should have been prepared for Young to throw the ball 44 times, too. Alabama hasn't mounted much of a rushing attack since October, and its running backs were window dressing Saturday.
This was Young vs. Georgia's secondary.
A total mismatch, apparently.
“Don't leave people uncovered, you know what I mean?” Smart said, when asked how Georgia could fare better in a potential playoff rematch. “Like, that's the first objective. Let's cover them, and then try to win some one-on-ones.”
Added Bennett: “Just didn't play our best game today. They did.”
True, and maybe the Crimson Tide won't repeat this performance in the playoffs. Consistent dominance doesn't apply to Alabama like it did the 2020 rendition
“At times, when we played well like we're capable of playing, we've been very, very good,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said, “and we're just trying to get that on a little more consistent basis. I think the players understand that.”
Saban will earn praise for coaching wizardry after improving to 4-0 against Smart, his former defensive coordinator who is in his sixth season at Georgia.
But for all the atta-boys Saban will receive, this is as much about Smart and Georgia. Alabama used a predictable approach, putting the game in Young's hands with an aim to pass Georgia silly.
The Bulldogs supplied little pass rush. Their defensive backs were outclassed by Alabama's wide receivers. Coverage busts piled up.
And Smart's best team flopped in its biggest test — but not its final test.
Smart didn't bother campaigning for a playoff spot. Assigning bids is the committee's job, he said.
Georgia should receive one of those bids, but its performance Saturday offered no indication that a happy ending awaits. Just the same old Bulldogs.
Blake Toppmeyer is an SEC Columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at Btoppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.