ATLANTA — Georgia played its worst game of the season on Saturday. The defense got torched for the first time all yearn, while Georgia’s offense failed to execute in key situations.

“Yeah, we just didn’t play our best game today,” quarterback Stetson Bennett said. “They did. Can’t turn the ball over. Just little mental lapses. That can’t happen. We’re going to work on starting tomorrow. Hopefully, get ready for whoever we play next.”

Georgia hopes that next opponent will be a College Football Playoff foe. The Bulldogs will have to wait on Sunday to find out whether they will be one of the four teams selected for the College Football Playoff. The selection committee is set to announce their final four teams at 12:15 ET on ESPN.

Alabama and Michigan are locks after winning their respective conferences. The Wolverines came away with a commanding win over Iowa in the Big Ten championship game on Saturday to move to 12-1.

Cincinnati is also likely bound for the playoff after winning on Saturday to move to 13-0. The Bearcats beat Houston 35-20 to win the AAC.

The Bulldogs were helped out by Baylor with the Bears upsetting No. 5 Oklahoma State in the Big 12 championship game. Notre Dame did go 11-1 on the season but lacks any marquee victories and did not play for a conference championship. The Fighting Irish also have a different coach now as Brian Kelly is LSU’s head coach.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart was asked after the Georgia loss whether or not his team was one of the four best teams in the country.

“That’s not for us to determine, you know what I mean? Certainly I feel like we are, but it’s not our job to determine that,” Smart said. “It’s the committee’s.”

As it stands, Georgia is likely to play Michigan, with the assumption the committee will not want to have a rematch in the semifinal between Georgia and Alabama.

The Bulldogs obviously has some things to fix going forward. The biggest issues would be both the pass rush and pass defense. The Bulldogs sacked Bryce Young zero times on Saturday, giving the Alabama quarterback plenty of time to scramble and find Alabama’s many weapons.

Jameson Williams meanwhile tortured the Georgia secondary. He finished the game with 7 receptions for 184 and 2 touchdowns. Both touchdowns were on explosive plays, as he scored on plays of 67 and 55 yards.

John Metchie also had a big impact in the game, catching 6 passes for 97 yards and a touchdown. But Metchie suffered a leg injury at the end of the first half and did not return. It is believed the talented Alabama receiver tore his ACL.

Georgia could very well get another crack at Alabama, in the event the Bulldogs make the playoffs. Georgia will find out for sure if they do that on Sunday.

Then the work begins on bouncing back from Saturday’s performance.

“The first answer would be don’t leave people uncovered,” Smart said. “Like that’s the first objective. Let’s cover them, and then try to win some one-on-ones and get balls down. Because look now, they’re going to throw and complete balls. They’re really good at doing that.

“At the end of the day, you have to put a body on a body and cover them. Some of the plays we gave were gifts.”

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