ATLANTA – Next stop for Georgia: we’re not sure.
What’s best for the Bulldogs: again, we’re not sure.
The fourth-ranked Bulldogs outlasted No. 23 Georgia Tech 16-9 on Friday in the friendly (and warm) confines of Mercedes-Benz Stadium rather than down the street at chilly Bobby Dodd Stadium. Georgia stands 10-2, 7-1 in the SEC, and has the rest of the weekend off after what coach Kirby Smart called “a very physical game” against the Jackets.
The defense kept Haynes King and Georgia Tech out of the end zone, while the offense did just enough to never truly be threatened. UGA’s streak over its in-state rivals now sits at eight games.
The next game for Georgia will either be in the SEC Championship Game next week in this same building, or in the College Football Playoff, potentially at Sanford Stadium or a quarterfinal bowl site.
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Should Texas upset Texas A&M tonight or Auburn upset Alabama tomorrow, Georgia will find itself trying to become just the second school to repeat as SEC champions since 2000, joining You Know Who. The biggest question is, do they want to even try?
“If you worry about injury risk, we won’t practice next week,” Smart said. “If you live your life scared of injuries, you know what you’ll have? A very scared team. There’s also an opportunity to win the SEC championship. Does that matter? Does anybody care about that anymore? I grew up thinking that was the greatest game in the world.”
A year ago, Georgia won a blood-and-guts 22-19 overtime game against Texas to capture Smart’s third SEC championship of his career. It was an Event, as it always is in Atlanta, a worthy successor to the Georgia-Texas regular-season battle. Tickets were pricey, TV ratings were robust and the quality of football was high.
And while Georgia celebrated a hard-fought win, starting quarterback Carson Beck injured his shoulder and was lost for the postseason. The Bulldogs earned a bye to the CFP quarterfinals, but lost to Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. Backup quarterback Gunnar Stockton was not quite up to the task in a 23-10 loss. He was 20-for-32 for 234 yards and a touchdown, but he had a critical fumble at the end of the second quarter that led to a Notre Dame touchdown.
Had Beck played, would Georgia have won? Hard to say, but you certainly want all your weapons when competing for a national championship.
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Still, the Bulldogs brought to the podium after the Georgia Tech win were uniform in their desire to come back here next week.
“Ever since fall camp, we knew what we were going for toward the end of the season,” sophomore linebacker Quintavious Johnson said. “We know we want to go there. We want to play in the championship.”
“It will mean a lot,” said running back Nate Frazier, who had 108 yards on 16 carries against the Yellow Jackets. “We work very hard throughout the season to get to SEC championships, national championships, playing bowl games. We would be very appreciative if we can get into that game.”
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The situation brings into focus the value of these league championship games, especially in the Big Ten and SEC. Both participants are pretty much always going to be CFP locks, so its almost a bit of an exhibition game before the single-elimination tournament that determines the national championship. With a 12-team bracket, earning a bye week should be an incentive in these championship games most of the time. If and when the tournament expands to 16, even that incentive will be gone.
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As fun as No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Indiana could be in Indianapolis next week if form holds, there is a crazy injury risk for two teams that have eyes on a national title.
But an SEC championship still has a strong pull where It Just Means More. Smart is just fine with the risk-reward factor of the game
“We lost guys today to injury, we’re gonna lose guys in practice to injury,” he said. “But then its next man up. What’s wrong with this whole thing? Now it’s like, well, what if you get hurt? What if you do this, what if you do that? I mean, it’s football. It’s all part of it.”
The Bulldogs will return to Athens, recover, watch some SEC football and find out their next destination over the next two days.
“We’ll be ready to play,” Stockton said. “Wherever we are.”
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