Kirby Smart is going to very shortly be telling the assembled media that his team is mentally and physically exhausted.
He’ll almost certainly mention that humility is never more than a week away in the SEC.
And I will quietly reply under my breath “Stupid is as stupid does, sir.”
Georgia didn’t lose this game because they were tired, or beat up. Geirgia lost this game because they turned the ball over three times, because they committed boneheaded personal fouls at the absolute worst possible times, and
to some extent because they couldn’t get everyone set on a field goal attempt.
Georgia made the kind of mistakes that other teams usually make against the Bulldogs, and the Bulldogs got the results those teams get when that happens.
The Bulldogs held an advantage in time of possession. They gained 440 yards of total offense to Auburn’s 366. And they only had 4 penalties for 60 yards, which contrasts favorably with Auburn’s 11 flags for 85 yards. But the penalties the Red and Black committed were terrible penalties with awful consequences. None was more brain-sprained than Gabe Harris’s late hit on Byrum Brown on the final drive that turned Auburn’s potential game winner from a dicey 51 yarder to a 36 yard chip shot.
It was the stupid cherry on top of a stupid sundae sprinkled with extra stupid. The kind of penalty a veteran leader of your defense absolutely cannot afford to commit if your team is to win close football games.
To their credit, Auburn made their fair share of plays to take advantage of the chances Georgia gave away. Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown was not spectacular. He don’t have a series of Trinidad Chambliss moments. His 15 of 26 passing performance for 150 yards was just enough to keep Georgia from selling out in the run game. Brown added 115 yards on the ground, and was a major reason the Tigers were able to move the chains just enough to manufacture points. Brown didn’t win the game singlehandedly, but he avoided making mistakes that could have lost it.
The same cannot be said for Gunner Stockton. We may well find out after this game that the early hit on Gunner Stockton that sent Ryan Puglisi into the game was more significant than the coaches and medical staff originally realized. I hope that’s not the case, but it would be a reasonable explanation for what was far and away the worst game Gunner Stockton has played as a starting quarterback in Athens, and potentially in Rabun County.
If I told you Gunner was 22 of 34 passing for 272 yards you probably would have been pretty pleased. But Stockton made three plays that he usually doesn’t make, and they were enough to tip the balance in this one. Stockton’s first interception was a bad read, on which he simply didn’t see the safety coming over. His second was an awful throw.
And the fumble that occurred on what could have been the game winning drive, when Stockton simply ran into Drew Bobo while scrambling and dropped the ball, was a failure of ball security in a critical moment. As with Harris’s personal foul, it was the kind of error that redshirt seniors aren’t supposed to make. When you put the ball in the hands of your veteran leaders and they make rookie errors, you lose the football game. It’s really that simple.
Are there any positives to be taken from this game? Well, Craig Dandridge continues to play like a veteran in his first season in the Classic City, catching 4 passes for 88 yards. Raylen Wilson was an absolute terror, finishing with 10 solo tackles and a sack. And on the whole, the Red and Black almost managed to dig out of the ten point hole they dug for themselves.
But this was the type of effort yhat’s hard to explain without making the type of excuses that Kirby Smart generally despises. The Bulldogs are at the tail end of a grueling series of SEC contests. Auburn was coming off a bye week. Emotional hangovers, physical limitations, etc, etc. etc. The truth is that KJ Bolden being on the field would not have kept Harris from committing a crushing penalty. It would not have helped Stockton hold onto the ball. This one is on the coaching staff and veteran leadership of this football team, and that’s what makes it most disappointing.
Georgia heads into its bye week before taking on a physical Florida team that now looks a lot like the Auburn team they just lost to. Kirby Smart has never lost to the Plainsmen and Gators in the same seasons If his team plays in two weeks the way it did last Saturday this won’t be the year that changes.
If his football team plays against the Gators the way they did today they will lose that game, and things will get ugly in Athens in a way they haven’t in some years. I’m urging you to remember that football teams are rarely as good as their wins or as bad as their losses. But that means that there are very clearly questions about the mental and physical toughness of this team that we didn’t expect to be asking.
Because doing what they did last week against Alabama is functionally insufficient if it means coming back and doing what they did this week right afterward.That’s a great way to start a season 6-0 and end it 9-3. Auburn played better than Georgia today. The Tigers executed better, and they secured the football better. Stupid is as stupid does. And what stupid does on fall Saturdays is lose football games.
Go ‘Dawgs!!!
