There are plenty of areas to point out for Georgia’s loss to Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl on Thursday.

But blaming Parker Jones isn’t one.

Yes, Jones made a mistake. Contact should not have been made with the official during Arian Smith’s long catch, which appeared to have Georgia set up inside the red zone of the Irish.

However, this was an act of exuberance, being caught up in the moment of a teammate making a big play.

Was he too close to the line? Yes. But he wasn’t the only one.

Jones’ only “crime” was he was the one who made contact with the official running down the line to follow the play. It could have been any number of others as the entire team was straining for a closer look at Smith’s big play.

Sideline warnings are nothing new.

That’s why Kirby Smart employs strength coach Scott Sinclair as his “get back” assistant during games.

This was the first time in recent memory I’ve seen a team penalized instead of warned, which one can safely assume is due to contact with the official being made.

Nevertheless, some of the hate Jones has received from some fans on social media has been mind-boggling.

But others should be more ashamed.

What in the world are ESPN and other pundits in the national media doing blaming the loss on Jones?

Did they watch the game?

Notre Dame dominating the line of scrimmage is a good place to start.

For all the folks worried about Gunner Stockton’s first career start, the Rabun County native wound up being the least of Georgia’s concerns.

The sack of and subsequent fumble by Stockton late in the second quarter that resulted in the Irish taking a 13-3 lead seems rather significant.

That wasn’t even Stockton’s fault.

There’s not much you can do when the defensive end is allowed to come in clean for a backside hit.

But they want to blame Jones?

What about the decision to throw the ball in the first place deep in your territory only down 6-3 and with less than a minute to play in the first half?

What about Trevor Etienne’s unfortunate earlier fumble at the 10?

What about letting Notre Dame run the second-half kickoff back for a score to put you in a 20-3 hole?

What about not being able to run the ball? That was an issue all season.

Was that the fault of Parker Jones?

What about Riley Leonard continuing the trend of running quarterbacks having success against the Bulldog defense?

Media and fans love to play the “what if” game. What if Georgia had scored a touchdown after Smith’s big catch? Obviously, we’ll never know. But to sit there and claim that one play was the difference in Georgia winning and losing the game is barking up the wrong tree.

Georgia lost the Sugar Bowl and the chance to advance to the semifinals because of two things – a great effort by Notre Dame combined with too many mistakes and a failure to execute by the Bulldogs.

None of that was Parker Jones' fault.