Thank goodness for an extra day.

After Friday night’s 44-42 eight overtime victory over Georgia Tech, Georgia will need a few more hours to recover for next Saturday’s SEC Championship against the winner of Texas-Texas A&M.

However, it sure beats the alternative.

Had Georgia lost Friday’s game to the Yellow Jackets, the Bulldogs would have found themselves in a must-win situation next week in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

But thanks to the most amazing victory in recent memory, the Bulldogs stand to qualify for the 12-team field, even though head coach Kirby Smart wasn’t ready to declare his team playoff-bound just yet.

“I'm not biting on that,” Smart said. “I'm worried about the SEC championship.”

Smart said his Bulldogs won’t dive into the game just yet.

For one, Georgia does not even know who it will play until the conclusion of Saturday night’s game in College Station between the Longhorns and Aggies.

“All we can do right now is rest. Our guys need a mental break,” Smart said. “I mean, tomorrow is one day, but it's a day that we don't know who we're going to play. They need recovery. This was a really short week.”

…Defensive tackle Christen Miller (shoulder), running back Trevor Etienne (ribs), and running back Chauncey Bowens (ankle) did not dress out after injuring his foot last week against UMass.

After the game, Smart revealed that the Bulldogs were almost without starting left tackle Monroe Freeling.

“He was not able to practice for a couple of days, and Dylan (Fairchild) was out, and then they both came back barely for the game,” Smart said. “Jared (Wilson) was hobbled. (Xavier) Truss was hobbled. We're like the walking wounded out there.”

Running back Roderick Robinson (turf toe) returned to action. … Branson Robinson (knee) dressed out but did not practice.

Smart did not go into much detail about why he went for two points after Georgia’s first touchdown early in the third quarter.

Quarterback Carson Beck's two-point attempt failed. If Georgia had kicked, the Bulldogs might have won the game in regulation instead of taking eight overtimes before defeating the Yellow Jackets.

“Yeah, interesting question,” Smart said. “I'm not going to dig real deep in it. It's analytics, and we followed it almost to a tee, and that's what our chart says.”

…The No. 7 Bulldogs (10-2) played their 16th overtime game in school history and are now 9-7, including 2-2 against Georgia Tech.

…Before Friday, Georgia and Georgia Tech went to overtime in 1999 (51-48 Tech in Atlanta), 2013 (41-34 Georgia in Atlanta) and 2014 (30-24 Tech in Athens).

…Georgia fell behind 17-0 in the second quarter and trailed 20-6 in the fourth quarter before rallying back. In the Smart era, Georgia trailed by 17 in the first half against Oklahoma in the 2018 Rose Bowl (31-14) and rallied for a 54-48 win in double overtime. The largest second half deficit under Smart was 14 against Ohio State in the 2022 Peach Bowl when entering the fourth quarter (38-24) before the Bulldogs stormed back to win 42-41.

…With the 44-42 victory, the 2024 senior class is an FBS-leading 52-4, adding to its school record.

…With the win over Tech, Georgia now has won 31 consecutive home games dating to 2019, which leads in FBS and improves on its school. In the Smart era, the Bulldogs are 50-4 at home with six straight undefeated seasons at Sanford Stadium, which includes seven in nine years. With its latest win over Tech, Georgia improves to 72-39-5 in the series, including 7-1 under Smart as the Bulldogs retained the Governor’s Cup Trophy. Also, Friday night marked the first time since 1994 that the teams battled on a Friday. Georgia now has won 26 consecutive non-conference matchups and are 38-2 against those teams under Smart.

…The Bulldogs now have won 26 straight night games at home including 17-0 under Smart. The streak began with a 2010 win over Tech.

...After getting blanked in the first half, Georgia finished with 405 yards of offense on 69 plays. Senior quarterback Carson Beck finished 28-for-43 for 297 yards and tied a school record with 5 touchdown passes. In the first half, he was 10-for-17 for 109 yards.

…Down 27-20 with 2:05 left in the game, Georgia had the ball at the Georgia Tech 32. The Bulldogs tied it at 27 with 1:01 left to play on a three-yard touchdown pass to Dominic Lovett and subsequent PAT to finish a five-play drive in 1:01.

…For the fifth time this season, Georgia did not score in the first quarter as the Bulldogs trailed tonight 3-0. Georgia is 4-1 in those games.

…Down 3-0, Georgia went for a fourth-and-3 at the Georgia Tech 36 and converted it with an 18-yard completion to Dillon Bell. Later in the drive, on fourth-and-1 from the GT 14, Nate Frazier was tackled for no gain. Coming in tonight, the Bulldogs ranked fifth nationally in fourth down conversions at 75% (15-for-20).

…In the red zone, Georgia went 4-for-5 with four touchdowns and turned it over on downs for the first time this year.

…Tech tallied a season-high 563 yards of offense on 84 plays. With the game tied at 27 with 1:01 left, the defense held and forced overtime as Tech turned it over on downs. With Georgia down 27-20 and on a third-and-one, senior Dan Jackson forced a fumble that was recovered by senior Chaz Chambliss at the Georgia Tech 32. It was the team’s 10th fumble recovery this season and first for Chambliss in his career.

…With Georgia trailing 20-13 with 8:18 left in the game, Tech went 75 yards on six plays to extend its lead to 27-13 with 5:37 left.

…Georgia’s top tacklers tonight were Smael Mondon, Jr. with a career-high 13 stops while CJ Allen, Daylen Everette and Malaki Starks had 10 each.

…Junior punter Brett Thorson posted a 54.0 average on three punts including a 57- and 58-yarder. He has 15 punts of 50-plus this year.

…Junior Cash Jones had one kickoff return for 18 yards while sophomore Anthony Evans III had one punt return for three yards.

…Sophomore kicker Peyton Woodring’s 53-yard field goal into the wind to end the first half was short, ending a streak of eight consecutive field goals made. He is now 17-for-19 on the year with both misses from over 50. His other miss was a 55-yarder against Mississippi State. He made his first nine field goals this year.