Quarterback Hutson Mason hands the ball off to Running back Nick Chubb during Georgia’s game with the Florida Gators at Everbank Field on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2014 in Jacksonville, Fla.ATHENS, Ga. – The Georgia Bulldogs never played in the Bowl Championship Series title game during the 16 years of its existence.
This is the first season of the four-team College Football Playoff, and the Bulldogs just last week had 7-to-1 odds to win the inaugural title. That, of course, was before they surprisingly were shredded defensively in a 38-20 loss to Florida in Jacksonville.
“We had two great weeks of practice, and if you had told me we would come out and lay an egg, I would have been very shocked,” quarterback Hutson Mason said. “But that’s what happened.”
The Bulldogs, who are 6-2 overall and 4-2 in Southeastern Conference play, are now 33-to-1 long shots to win the inaugural playoff. Playing Saturday at Kentucky, they are only half a game back of Missouri in the SEC East race, but their playoff hopes are all but obliterated given that their two losses are to teams — South Carolina and Florida — who are a combined 8-8 overall and 5-8 within the conference.
“We knew if we won out we would most likely be there,” receiver Michael Bennett said. “Obviously Florida hit us in the mouth, and now it’s about winning the East. We can still do that, and that’s what our focus is.”