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Good Day, UGA: The Rodeo Edition

Georgia ended its regular season on a losing note, falling to Georgia Tech in the final minute.
Hyosub Shin/AJC
Cy Brown
Cy Brown

Good day, UGA. Welcome to your one-stop shop for all the relevant UGA football news and takes every Monday through Friday. In today’s edition, we take stock of Georgia football following the conclusion of the regular season and a shocking comeback loss to Georgia Tech. My feelings:

What they said about Georgia

With that Michigan-Ohio State game happening simultaneously with Georgia-Georgia Tech, most of the national media’s attention was focused on Columbus rather than Athens. But a few found some time to write a little about Georgia’s future in the wake of the stunning 28-27 loss to Georgia Tech and this season in general.

Georgia finished seventh in the final regular season iteration of ESPN SEC Blog’s power rankings. Sam Khan Jr. seems optimistic about what Jacob Eason can bring to the program now that he has a full season under his belt.

After a 7-5 campaign that had its peaks and valleys, a more experienced Jacob Eason provides some hope for the future.

USA Today’s Dan Wolken was more critical in his Misery Index column. Wolken ranked Georgia as college football’s third most miserable fan base after Week 13. Basically, his take asks how difficult it must be for Georgia fans to be happy after expecting improvement from Mark Richt’s tenure as coach and seeing Kirby Smart finish Year 1 with a mediocre record.

Then imagine watching Mark Richt bask in the sunshine of Miami at 8-4 (including a win against Georgia Tech), still enjoying Georgia’s buyout money while those who paid realize what they had. Richt wasn’t perfect, and maybe five years from now Smart grows into being a good head coach and have Georgia well positioned to win championships. But for now, you have to at least question whether the school knew what it was getting into.

Top Dawgs

  1. Sony Michel – Michel had by far his best game of the season, and one of the best of his career, in the Georgia Tech loss. The South Florida native finished with a whopping 170 yards and a touchdown on just 19 carries. If Georgia had won and not allowed that final touchdown, it likely would have gone down as one of Georgia’s best performances in the history of the rivalry. If …
  2. Dominick Sanders – Sanders ended up with his hands on both Georgia Tech turnovers on Saturday, snagging a pick, his third this season and 12th of his career, to stop Tech near the end of the first half. He also helped swing momentum in the third quarter, the only period Georgia dominated, by scooping up a fumble on Tech’s first second-half drive. However, Georgia scored only three points off the ensuing drives from Sanders’ turnovers, so they were largely for naught.
  3. Roquan Smith – There is no player who has won me over more this season than Smith. He plays with a hard nose, flies around the field and always manages to find himself near the ball. Smith led Georgia in tackles once again against Georgia Tech, with 13 total and 7 solo. He leads the team with 82 total tackles this year, 27 more than Natrez Patrick in second.
  4. Aaron Davis – Even though he’s a defensive back, Davis spent the afternoon in Georgia Tech’s backfield. He led the team with 2.5 tackles for loss, including .5 sacks.
  5. Terry Godwin – Godwin was the most effective Georgia receiver on Saturday, but that isn’t saying much. Godwin caught 5 passes for 53  yards, 37 of which came on one play. Godwin has played well in spots over his first two seasons at Georgia, but he’ll need markedly better showings his next two seasons to not be labeled a bust when his Georgia career ends.

Bowl projections

Outlet Bowl Opponent
CBS Sports Liberty TCU
SB Nation Birmingham USF
ESPN (Schlabach) Music City Iowa
ESPN (McMurphy) Music City Indiana
NBC Sports Music City Minnesota
Campus Insiders Music City Indiana

When the regular season is over

And all that’s left is to find out what crappy Big Ten team you’ll play in Nashville.

Dawgs in the NFL

It seems as though Malcolm Mitchell has turned a corner in New England. The former Georgia caught the first TD of his NFL career last week, and this week he provided two more, including the game-winner for the Patriots with less than four minutes left against the Jets on Sunday. Tom Brady is finally looking Mitchell’s way consistently, which can only mean bigger things in the future for the wideout.

The Panthers lost to the Raiders on Sunday, but it wasn’t for Thomas Davis‘ lack of trying. Davis recovered a fumble and picked off quarterback Derek Carr in the 35-32 loss. He also finished the game with 7 tackles.

Todd Gurley‘s poor sophomore season continued on Sunday as he managed just 50 yards on 13 carries as the Rams were badly beaten 49-21 by the Saints. Alec Ogletree continued to be a force on L.A.’s defense, with a 12 tackles against New Orleans.

On Thanksgiving, Matt Stafford led the Lions to a 16-13 win over the Vikings. The former Bulldog signal-caller accumulated 232 yards and a touchdown pass in the victory. He also, impressively, ran for 30 yards, including this 15-yard scramble.

Finally, Justin Houston had 3 sacks and a safety in the first half of Kansas City’s game against Denver on Sunday night. Here he is straight abusing the Broncos line to get the safety.

ICYMI

Good dog

Who here think this dog would’ve tackled Qua Searcy?

NEXT Sentell’s Intel: The latest class projections on offense for 2017 at UGA
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