Christmas has arrived, which is a joyous time for folks all around the world.
Amid the gift giving, the cocoa sipping and the caroling, you can bet the Georgia football team is doing its part to ensure its Christmas wish list is fulfilled as well. While Santa may have already dropped presents by everyone’s Christmas tree, the program has some other items it would like to accomplish.
Here is Georgia’s Christmas wish list heading into the College Football Playoff:
1. Avoid a Covid-19 outbreak in Miami: Head coach Kirby Smart should have strong control over his team and its whereabouts while they’re practicing for the Orange Bowl in Miami. In most years, there would be some time built in for the players to explore the city. With the Covid-19 omicron variant’s surge, Georgia’s players won’t be doing much, if anything at all, except football-related activities. That alone makes it a great reason to go down to Miami as soon as possible, since the coaching staff would not have that kind of control over the team in Athens. With the College Football Playoff’s Covid-19 policy stating that forfeits can occur if too many people test positive, the last thing Smart wants is his second crack at a national championship to be derailed due to a management committee deciding that the semifinal games are unable to be rescheduled if a team has too many cases.
2. Avoid Florida Man: Anytime you go to the Not So Sunshine State you have to worry about Florida Man. You never know what Florida Man is up to. Just recently, Florida Man was busted with drugs around his junk and told the cops it wasn’t his.
3. No injuries at practice: After arriving in Miami, the Bulldogs will have four days to practice. The last thing they need is for any key players to succumb to an injury. The Bulldogs are finally healing up at some key spots with the lengthy break.
4. Daniels’ health: The good news is quarterback JT Daniels tested positive for Covid-19 with plenty of time to test negative before the Orange Bowl kicks off. He's also vaccinated, which means his mild symptoms probably won't last too long either. Assuming Smart isn’t planning to make a change at quarterback for the game, he would still prefer to have his top backup available.
5. Hope the secondary learned something: Against Alabama, there were way too many coverage busts. In the Bulldogs’ plan to shut down John Metchie and Jameson Williams by doubling them, the secondary became turned around too often, leading to some big plays. Smart will hope his defensive backs learned from those mistakes for the playoff.
6. Improved pressure: After 12 games of pressuring quarterbacks relentlessly, the Bulldogs were unable to sack Alabama quarterback Bryce Young. Perhaps Santa brought his pass rushers some gifts to assist in this department. The front seven will need to get back its pressure bringing ways against Michigan.
7. Avoid Michigan Men: Florida Man is scary. Michigan Men are annoying. Smart will want his players to avoid these creatures in Miami at all costs.
8. Minimal transfers: Like any program these days, it will be expected for Georgia to experience a number of players wanting to leave via the transfer portal. Smart will obviously want this to be kept at a minimum when the postseason is over and it’s time for players to make those decisions.
9. Defeat Michigan and come away unscathed: Georgia faces a physical opponent that has run the ball well and with efficiency against opponents all season long. In theory, the Bulldogs have the personnel to match up well with the Wolverines, but they haven’t seen an offensive line this talented all year long—even though Alabama sure looked like it despite its performances in every other week of the season. In addition to defeating Michigan, Georgia will need to come out of the game without any major injuries. The Bulldogs will need to be at full strength against either Alabama or Cincinnati if they are to win the Orange Bowl.
10. Win the national championship: The most obvious of Christmas wishes, Smart has been tasked as Georgia's head coach to deliver college football’s ultimate prize to a program that hasn’t seen one since early January 1981. The only things standing in Georgia’s way are two games and a highly contagious Covid-19 variant.
