The annual Georgia-Florida game is always a big deal, make no mistake about that.
This year, it’s also about redemption, especially as far as the Bulldogs are concerned. After starting the year 6-0 and climbing to No. 2 in the country, Georgia’s 36-16 loss to LSU two Saturday’s ago has turned the Bulldog Nation into a virtual foot-stomping, spit-flying tizzy.
If you’ve been pulling a Rip Van Winkle, woke up and perused message boards and Social Media over the past eight days, you’d swear the Bulldogs were 0-7, and struggling to get out of their own way.
Over-reaction or not, there are problems and issues that need correcting if Georgia hopes to come away with a win versus Florida.
Kirby Smart’s handling of quarterbacks Jake Fromm and Justin Fields has certainly been fair game for questions, while the decision to go away from the running game, particularly when it comes to Elijah Holyfield, remains a head-scratcher.
Tackling issues and the lack of Smart’s favorite word – physicality – were also evident in the loss to the Tigers. Those are big reasons why many are wondering if the Bulldogs can win the next three games against Florida, Kentucky and Auburn to get back to Atlanta to defend the SEC title.
In the eyes of some, in just one game, Smart went from being the KANG to a pauper. Smart may play chess while others are playing checkers, but against LSU, he got crowned.
Don’t take a single thing away from LSU. The Tigers played their tails off, punched Georgia in the face and deserved to win the game.
However, the Bulldogs did not come out ready to play, and coaches made some questionable offensive decisions and Georgia never gave itself a real opportunity to win the game.
Smart was peppered with questions about the current state of the Bulldogs on Tuesday, the last opportunity the media had to meet the Georgia head coach in person.
He was asked about the criticism coming his way.
“The world we live in, we have to look at the field, we have to look at the practice, we’ve got to look at what’s best for our team and whoever gives our team the best chance to win is what we’ll decide to do. I’m not going to be influenced by outside forces on who to play or what to do,” Smart said. “Nobody knows what happens on a play when a kid throws the ball because the corner cats (blitzes) and he throws the ball away. It looks like he missed a guy. That might have been the best play he made all day because we might not have had the corner picked up and it was going to be a sack if he didn’t do that so you just can’t go off of statistics.”
He did, however, acknowledge the obvious – Georgia played terrible. It wasn’t just Fromm.
“Now could he have played better? Sure, he could have played better. A lot of people could have played better. A lot of people could have coached better, but that’s over with,” Smart said. “We’ve moved on to Florida and that’s what we’re focused on.”
Fortunately for Georgia, the Bulldogs are really in not much worse shape than they were before the loss to the Tigers.
Georgia still controls its own destiny as far as winning the SEC East, which would likely result in a match-up against Alabama for the SEC crown.
Yes, the Crimson Tide is looking unbeatable, and would likely be a double-digit favorite in the game, but you’d rather the Bulldogs at least have a shot, right?
Providing Smart can find some answers between now and Saturday’s game in Jacksonville, there’s no reason why they can't have that opportunity.
Doubters will of course remain, until the Bulldogs are ahead and the final seconds tick off the clock at TIAA Bank Field.
Georgia has much to prove. It's not so much about what Florida does, this is all about the Bulldogs and how they perform.
Only then will redemption be had -- at least in the eyes of some. Only then, will we know more about the mettle of which Georgia’s 2018 team is truly made.
