What was to blame?

NEW ORLEANS – Was it over-confidence? Was it a lack of being prepared? Did Georgia’s recent tweets about belonging in the College Football Playoffs provide extra motivation for Texas?

Those are subjects that will no doubt be talked about over and over after Tuesday night’s 28-21 loss in the Sugar Bowl.

According to wide receiver Riley Ridley, the answer is actually quite simple.

“The team that played the best won today,” Ridley said. “We tip our hats to Texas. We got outplayed.”

Neither running back Elijah Holyfield nor wide receiver Jeremiah Holloman blamed the Twitter talk for the Bulldogs’ issues against the Longhorns.

“We weren’t over-confident,” Holyfield said. “We never made a big deal about it. We just reacted to what we saw. We just didn’t play our best as a team. The tweets didn’t have a thing to do with it.”

Holloman, meanwhile, offered no apologies.

“I still stand by that, but at the end of the day we’ve got to come to play, that’s what it comes down to,” Holloman said. “Texas came to play today—we didn’t come to play.”

Wilson sees first action

Freshman cornerback Divaad Wilson was a surprise competitor in Saturday’s Sugar Bowl.

The Florida native, who tore his ACL earlier this year, missed the entire spring for Georgia before slowly working his way back into shape during the season. He was finally cleared to play in late October, but Tuesday’s game was the first action of his college career.

Injury update

Georgia played the game without Jordan Davis, who suffered a minor back injury two weeks ago.

Davis practiced with the team here in New Orleans, but head trainer Ron Courson didn't clear him to play. Backup Michail Carter also did not dress out while nursing an undisclosed injury.

…Running back James Cook was spotted for the first time in two weeks wearing a boot over his right foot and using a scooter to get around. Cook had no comment.

…Defensive end David Marshall is still wearing a boot over his left foot but has ditched the scooter he was using for several weeks.

…Outside linebacker D’Andre Walker (groin)dressed out, but didn't play. Middle linebacker Monty Rice (foot) played but sparingly.

This and that

…The Bulldogs came in ranked 15th nationally in scoring defense (18.5 points per game), and the Longhorns built a 20-7 halftime edge including taking advantage of a couple of Bulldog miscues, adding one more score for the 28-21 final. UT finished with 355 yards of total offense.

…Tonight, graduate safety J.R. Reed led the Bulldogs with eight tackles while sophomore DL Devonte Wyatt had seven stops and 1.5 sacks, the first of his career.

…Elijah Holyfield gained 62 yards, giving him 1,018 total for the season. Holyfield is the 15th Bulldog to have a 1,000-yard season, for the 21st time it’s been done. Holyfield joins sophomore D’Andre Swift who hit that milestone in the SEC Championship Game. Swift finished the season with 1,049 yards. It marks the second straight year that Georgia has had a pair of 1,000-yard rushers after Nick Chubb (1,345 yards) and Sony Michel (1,227 yards) did it a year ago.

…Georgia forced no turnovers, while the Longhorns created two (D’Andre Swift fumble, Jake Fromm INT) and turned them into seven points. For the season, Georgia finished +3 in Turnover Margin, scoring 51 points off 17 turnovers on the year. Opponents scored 37 points off 14 Bulldog turnovers.

…Senior center Lamont Gaillard started his team-leading 42nd straight game. On defense, the team leader in consecutive starts is Reed, now with 29. Freshman Brenton Cox made his first career start at OLB with senior D’Andre Walker not 100 percent. With defensive back Deandre Baker unavailable, freshman Tyson Campbell returned to a starting role, his 11th of the year.