ATHENS -- It has been a whirlwind of Georgia football filled with ups, downs and most recently confetti.

The Bulldogs and their fans can finally catch their breath, the regular season and fresh SEC Championship Game victory behind them, cementing 2024 as a success.

Kirby Smart will continue to look ahead, of course, without much reflection on just what it took for Georgia to earn the No. 2 seed in the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Smart won’t look back at the preseason distractions, or the top two receivers’ suspensions, or the injuries to his defensive line, and then running back stable.

What matters is now, and the Bulldogs have an easier path to the CFP Championship Game than No. 1 seed Oregon -- the team they are most likely to face when the dust settles -- which opens play on Jan. 1 in the Rose Bowl against the winner of Tennessee at Ohio State.

Georgia, meanwhile, will play later into the night on Jan. 1 in the Sugar Bowl against the winner of Indiana at Notre Dame.

When the Bulldogs win that game, they will face the victor from Boise State’s Fiesta Bowl pod, with the Broncos poised to play the winner of the SMU at Penn State game that will be played on Dec. 21.

Smart is focused on his team now, mum on the status of quarterback Carson Beck, who left at halftime of the SEC title game with what’s reportedly a UCL/elbow injury.

Fact is, the Georgia football roared to life behind back-up quarterback Gunner Stockton, the players realizing it would take more from everyone to compensate for the loss of the starting quarterback.

The Bulldogs came from 6-3 down to a 22-19 overtime win over Texas, turning back the Longhorns for the second time this season after beating them 30-15 in Austin on Oct. 19.

Georgia proved itself the class of the SEC, again, despite the distractions, injuries and murderous schedule

Here are three takeaways from the SEC Championship Game weekend:

Quarterback Situation

Beck may or may not be back to play this season, but the hot take here is that it doesn’t matter, because Georgia can reach the CFP title with or without him.

Beck completed his first five passes before the UGA receivers started dropping passes, as they have all season, leading the nation in that category.

The Stockton for Beck trade-off is similar to when pin-point passer J.T. Daniels was injured and a more-mobile quarterback named Stetson Bennett replaced him.

Stockton presents shades of Bennett, looking very similar with his mobility and passing efforts. Stockton, a redshirt sophomore, doesn’t have the same supporting cast as Bennett, most notably, Brock Bowers.

But Stockton does bring another element with his running willingness and ability, and he has a strong offensive line in front of him and a capable run game behind him, especially now that veteran Trevor Etienne is back in the fold.

Etienne can also catch the ball out of the backfield, giving Stockton a nice check down option who can take it the distance from anywhere on the field.

Rising Defense

The Georgia defense has seemingly gotten stronger and deeper each week, and that’s part of the reason why UGA can get to the CFP title game regardless of who’s at quarterback.

The Bulldogs’ D gets nasty when backed up, holding Texas to just 6 points in the first half of the SEC title game despite yielding 260 yards.

The Georgia defensive line has found its pride, preventing Georgia Tech from gaining 1-yard with that game on the line last week, and then this week holding the Longhorns to just 31 yards rushing.

Georgia defensive linemen Warren Brinson and Nazir Stackhouse are stepping up, along with Mykel Williams, Chaz Chambliss and now Xzavier McLeod and Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins.

If Georgia has the best defensive front in the CFP, as one suspects, it will go a long way to getting the Bulldogs back to Atlanta for the title game.

Chippy Kirby

Everyone heard Smart call out SEC commissioner Greg Sankey in relation to the Bulldogs’ schedule.

Smart was referencing Georgia getting assigned road games to Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas — three Top 10 teams — along with an early-season trip to Kentucky, while the Wildcats were still fresh and contending.

There was nothing Smart could say or do at the time the schedule was assigned other than play it, but on Saturday, he let Sankey know about it in front of everyone.

Smart may or may not apologize - he was standing up for his players, and this team — but he definitely sent a message that Georgia will not and should not be pushed around by the league office anymore.

It happened when UGA had to play at Auburn in back-to-back years, and it happened in 2019 when five UGA opponents had bye weeks before they played the Bulldogs.

It happened again in 2020, when a Florida-Alabama game that was in rotation was avoided by the league office, in a season UGA was forced to travel to Tuscaloosa.

This year’s SEC schedule would have derailed any other program, and in a year where the CFP Selection Committee was focused more on Won-Loss record than Strength of Schedule.

Somehow, Georgia survived all of that.

It took Beck turning his game up to get the Bulldogs into the SEC title game, then Stockton stepping in to finish a comeback win, and of course a resilient and rapidly improving defense.

The special teams unit might be the best in the nation, and Smart showed his confidence in them with his gutsy and successful fourth quarter fake punt call from the UGA 30 with the game tied.

It’s a lot to take in, but it’s all worth noting now, because this Georgia football team has a lot still ahead.