Time to shake it off and appreciate the special era of UGA football we’re witnessing.
One loss shouldn’t outweigh the spectacular run Kirby Smart’s Dawgs have had over the past three years.
And missing the playoff shouldn’t overshadow the fact that an injury-plagued but resilient Georgia team managed to go undefeated in regular-season play for a third consecutive season.
Losing to Alabama in the SEC Championship game was upsetting, yeah, but UGA fans mustn’t forget that their team came within a couple of plays of getting a chance to accomplish what no other college program has done in nearly 90 years.
I’ve been preaching for the past couple of seasons that we’ve been privileged to watch Georgia football’s greatest run ever, and we should savor how special it has been.
As Jason Hasty, the athletics history specialist at UGA’s Hargrett Library, said this week, it just felt great this season to be a two-time defending national champion “and to enjoy this run of excellence that Coach Smart and his team have put together. I hope all of us fans are basking in this Golden Age of Georgia football, but certainly for those of us who’ve followed the team for decades this era is especially satisfying.”
While Georgia only occasionally has put a bad team on the field, he noted, “there were years when it felt that the ultimate prize was just too far away for us to ever grasp. Grasping that prize (twice!) has made all those years of disappointment and ‘maybe next year’ seem worthwhile.”
Jason’s right. Sure, it hurts for the Dawgs not to have made the College Football Playoff this year after being at the top of the polls all season, but I’ve been dismayed by the way some fans have responded, saying that if Georgia isn’t going to be in the playoff, it should have turned down the Orange Bowl in protest. That would have been shameful.
This was just one of those seasons when losing one game at the wrong time made all the difference. Had the Dawgs lost a regular-season game but still made it to Atlanta and beaten Bama for the SEC title, they would have made the playoff as a one-loss champ, just as the Tide did.
But while a loss in the SEC game was not enough to disqualify Georgia from a playoff spot two years ago, the competition for those four bids was much tighter this year.
And that’s a two-way street. Had there been as many undefeated teams at the end of the 2021 season as there were this year, the Dawgs probably wouldn’t have gotten the chance to redeem themselves against Bama in Indianapolis and win the first of those back-to-back natties.
Yes, the conference-record streak of consecutive victories ended at a remarkable 29, but those of us who prefer to see those national championship commemorative tumblers as half full can look forward to the future of Smart’s elite program.
As Bulldogs radio network host Jeff Dantzler said this week: “What a run. … And, as long as Coach ‘King Kirby’ Smart is here, the Dawgs will be in the hunt.”
So, yes, it’s time to start a new winning streak. And, even if the Dawgs don’t manage to remain unbeaten through the extremely challenging regular-season schedule that they will face in 2024, their odds of playing in next season’s expanded 12-team playoff are extremely good.
Anyway, rather than pout over not getting a shot at a threepeat, some fans chose to join me this week in looking back at our favorite moments from what still was a wonderful season.
Based on what I’ve heard from fans, I’d say the favorite moment for many was defensive lineman Nazir Stackhouse making the first interception of his career against Missouri and then lumbering down the field (as my brother Jon described it). Even though his 44-yard return got wiped out by a penalty, the big man’s excitement was contagious and, with Georgia leading by only 6 at the time in the fourth quarter, it was a definite momentum-shifter. Helen Castronis, daughter of UGA’s legendary Coach Mike, said that play was “maybe the one I enjoyed the absolute most,” and Athens native Doug Vinson said Stackhouse’s “sprint downfield was quite memorable.”
From the same game, Peyton Woodring made a clutch field goal with 3:57 remaining, to give the Dawgs a two-score lead. Dantzler named that the “play of the year.”
Another favorite moment for fans from early in the season was Brock Bowers’ 40-yard catch-and-run for a game-clinching touchdown against Auburn. Even amid a prolific performance by the superstar tight end, with 9 catches for 157 yards, that scoring play was a highlight, particularly with him breaking a tackle. Larry Pope called it a “game-saving, season-saving play.”
Transfer receiver Rara Thomas provided another favorite moment with his acrobatic catch of a 15-yard pass from Carson Beck for a score against Kentucky. On a day when he caught 5 passes for 63 years, it was a wow-inducing reception, with Thomas going up high over a defender to catch the ball and then — twisting as he fell — somehow managing to get a foot down in the end zone before the rest of him landed out of bounds. It was so close that the officials initially called it incomplete before video review showed his foot inside the boundary.
Also, the game against Florida in Jacksonville was the scene of a couple of favorite moments this season, as so often is the case.
One was courtesy of receiver Ladd McConkey, who had a team-high 6 catches for 135 yards that day. The best of them saw him catch a medium-range pass and then outrun a host of Gators for a 41-yard TD play. Despite him battling back problems all season, this was vintage McConkey, with No. 84 catching the ball, then changing direction to leave Florida defenders flatfooted.
UGA fan Alan Howard, who lives in Jacksonville, described the play this way: “It looked like a short gain, because there were four Gator defenders right in front of him. But Ladd hit the brakes, pivoted 180 degrees, and outraced the Gator secondary to the endzone. It was a thing of beauty to behold.”
However, the absolute highlight of the game for many Dawgs fans came on the latest “4th-and-dumb” call by a Gators head coach in the Georgia-Florida series, as Billy Napier decided that, rather than punting or trying the traditional sneak on 4th-and-1, a trick play was in order. The ball was snapped through QB Graham Mertz’s legs to running back Travis Etienne, who was smothered by Dawgs linebacker Smael Mondon. That set up Georgia at the Florida 29 and resulted in another Dawgs TD.
Another fan favorite was Kendall Milton’s performance in Georgia’s thumping of Ole Miss, when he carried the ball 9 times for 127 yards (a 14.1 yards-per-run average). The highlight was a 33-yard run through the middle of the Mississippi defense, as the oft-injured Milton turned on the afterburners and outran everyone to the end zone.
“The complete dismantling of Ole Miss and Tennessee in consecutive weeks was so fun to watch,” Jason Hasty said. “I especially enjoyed seeing Kendall Milton, finally healthy after so much bad luck with injuries, have the game of his career on that cold, drizzly night in Athens against Ole Miss.”
From that same game, longtime Blawg reader Mark Symms loved how, when Bowers and McConkey both lined up on the right side, Brock was able to draw the safeties with him across the middle as Ladd zipped down the right side to catch a dart-like touchdown pass from Beck.
“The fear of Bowers, the almost unstoppable force, getting loose in the middle of the field allowed a one-on-one on Ladd McConkey,” Mark said. “Opposing teams should never, ever let Ladd have a one-on-one. He will beat you every time. Perfectly called play by Coach [Mike] Bobo … and perfect execution by McConkey and Beck. It was … my favorite play of the season.”
Versatile receiver-running back Dillon Bell found yet another way to stand out in the Tennessee game. Besides catching a pass for a TD, Bell also threw one on a play where he lined up in the backfield for what looked like a toss sweep (drawing the defense in). However, after taking the pitch, Bell stopped and lofted a pretty 18-yard TD throw to Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint, who was standing alone in the end zone. Jimmy Camp spoke for many fans when he said: “I wish we would run that play often.”
And while it wasn’t part of a UGA victory, longtime Georgia football observers Owen Scott and Larry Pope both said a favorite moment from the season was the Dawgs’ opening drive against Alabama in the SEC Championship Game. The Dawgs mixed run and pass to great effect, with Beck hitting Bowers for 23 yards, wide receiver Dominic Lovett for 18 yards and McConkey for a 15-yard gain before Milton ran the ball in from the 17-yard line.
Said retired Atlanta sportscaster Bill Hartman: “We went down the field like a knife through butter. It may have been my favorite drive of the year.”
Another play in the fourth quarter of that losing effort saw a hobbled McConkey catch a pass at the Bama 1-yard line to set up Georgia’s next-to-last score. Said Darrell Huckaby: “Ladd’s catch on the goal line against Bama might have been my most emotional moment. What a fierce competitor.”
As for Lee Eidson, his favorite thing about the season was Georgia’s resilience and ability to “come back and win” after falling behind in quite a few games.
Other favorite moments worthy of honorable mention include the Dawgs converting on 4th-and-5 from the Mizzou 49 as Beck hit Thomas for a 26-yard gain; Javon Bullard breaking up a Tennessee pass in the end zone by flipping the ball out with one hand; Mekhi Mews’ 69-yard punt return for a touchdown against Ball State, with the walk-on receiver making multiple defenders miss him; and Beck’s overall performance against Kentucky, where he made 28 of 35 passes (an 80-percent completion rate) for a career-high 389 yards and 4 touchdowns.
In fact, Dave Williams said his favorite part of the season was “Carson stepping up and filling big shoes and, in the process, quieting many naysayers along the way. If he comes back, he should be high in the Heisman watch.”
Added Tony Tyson: “My favorite moments of 2023 are not individual standout plays, but rather the tenacity and poise by the players and coaches throughout the season. It was obvious from the git-go this defense was not the elite defense of the past. Playing from behind was too common, but the team never flinched. … [And] I’m most proud of the team effort battling what seemed to be endless injuries this season. The heart of Brock and Ladd cannot be questioned.”
Finally, a fellow alum of The Red & Black, Steve Oney, thought one of the greatest things about the 2023 season happened off the field. “Kirby Smart, in the wake of January’s tragic deaths of Devin Willock and Chandler LeCroy, somehow managed to heal his team’s wounds and focus its attention. … It was an emotionally battered team, and Kirby Smart somehow pulled it together.”
