What is the opposite of elite?
Surprisingly, it was Georgia’s defense during Saturday night’s 41-24 loss to Alabama in the Southeastern Conference championship game.
“We made some mistakes, and that’s on all 11 of us,” Bulldogs junior outside linebacker Nolan Smith said. “That’s not on one person.We don’t point fingers. We’ve just got to go fix it.”
The Bulldogs arrived in Atlanta last week not only as the No. 1 team in the country and as 6.5-point favorites but with a defense that was drawing comparisons to Brian Bosworth and the 1986 Oklahoma Sooners, Ed Reed and the 2001 Miami Hurricanes and to Dont’a Hightower and the 2011 Crimson Tide. Georgia roared through an undefeated regular season behind a dominating unit that allowed 230.8 yards and 6.9 points per game, and the start of Saturday’s contest went as expected when the Bulldogs took a 10-0 lead on the first play of the second quarter while holding Alabama to 46 yards at that point.
Yet that’s exactly when Alabama’s offense ignited, with sophomore quarterback Bryce Young throwing for 421 yards and rushing for 40 more on an offense that wound up with 536 total yards.