Successful spin cycle: Georgia rebounds to reach 9-1 for a third consecutive season

Georgia photo by Philip Williams / Georgia's defense celebrates a fumble recovery during last week's 21-14 triumph at Auburn. The Bulldogs have played four turnover-free games since committing four in their double-overtime loss to South Carolina on Oct. 12.
Georgia photo by Philip Williams / Georgia's defense celebrates a fumble recovery during last week's 21-14 triumph at Auburn. The Bulldogs have played four turnover-free games since committing four in their double-overtime loss to South Carolina on Oct. 12.

ATHENS, Ga. - In the aftermath of Alabama's 46-41 loss to LSU earlier this month, Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban produced some motivational pride by pointing out his program had lost more than one regular-season game just once in the past 12 years.

Don't look now, but Georgia could be assembling a similar run under Kirby Smart.

The Bulldogs are 9-1 through 10 games for a third consecutive season, though this one has transpired a bit different from the past two. Georgia was shellacked at Auburn in 2017 and drubbed at LSU last season, but the lone stumble for this year's team is a 20-17 home loss to South Carolina in double overtime.

"I think every team is different," Smart said this week. "You think about two years ago this week or whatever week it was, and you're in a completely different position. You're coming off being undefeated and getting your butt whipped.

"Last year was more similar to this year, having the loss earlier, but each year is different. I do think this team is getting better."

The common thread to Georgia's three straight 9-1 seasons is regrouping from defeat and getting better. The 2017 Bulldogs avenged a 40-17 loss at Auburn with a 28-7 topping of the Tigers in the Southeastern Conference championship game, while last year's team bounced back from a 36-16 loss in Baton Rouge with a dominating three-game stretch of triumphs over Florida, Kentucky and Auburn by 17 or more points.

While Auburn's 2017 team was No. 2 in the College Football Playoff rankings entering the SEC title game and last year's LSU Tigers won the Fiesta Bowl, this season's South Carolina team is just 4-7 with rival Clemson to go, making it the most inexplicable loss of the four-year Smart era.

"That was just one of those games where we weren't in the mood for whatever reason," Bulldogs senior defensive end David Marshall said. "It was just one of those games."

Georgia outgained South Carolina 468-297 and had more than 36 minutes of possession time, which resembles the stat line for most every Bulldogs game this season. The huge difference in that Oct. 12 shocker was turnover margin, with Georgia committing four gaffes compared to none by the Gamecocks.

Smart repeatedly preached, "You're not going to beat anybody turning the ball over four times" in the days that followed, and the Bulldogs haven't turned it over since.

They also have registered victories over rivals Florida (24-17 on Nov. 2) and Auburn (21-14 last Saturday) to secure a third consecutive SEC East crown.

"We always knew we controlled our own destiny," redshirt freshman outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari said. "We always knew we could be back in this position and just continue to work and do what we have to do to get back."

The Bulldogs' latest rapid recovery has them fourth in the CFP rankings entering Saturday's home game against Texas A&M, which is 7-3 following four straight wins. There has been discussion the past couple weeks of whether Georgia, Alabama or somebody else deserves that fourth playoff spot, but Smart certainly is not delving into that conversation.

Nor does he want his players involved in such talk.

"We don't control that," Smart said. "Our players are going to see that stuff, and they're going to hear it, but what you try and emphasize are the facts. If we block and tackle people, we're pretty good. If we do simple better, we're pretty good.

"If we don't and turn the ball over and don't play well on special teams and give up big, explosive plays, then we're not very good. None of that other stuff matters. None of it matters."

What matters is somehow getting to 10-1 for a third straight season, which could leave the Bulldogs in an elite club with Alabama, Clemson and Oklahoma.

"This team is going to be defined by what it does going forward, not what it's done in the past, and that's always the case," Smart said. "This is a big one, because Texas A&M has a really good football team and our guys are coming off an emotional victory."

Odds and ends

Bulldogs senior safety J.R. Reed is one of five finalists for the Bronko Nagurski Award, given annually to college football's top defensive player, with Auburn defensive tackle Derrick Brown the only other finalist from the SEC. ... Austin Kirksey, a freshman quarterback at Nevada who has yet to play this season, has decided to transfer to Georgia and walk on. Kirksey is from Walton High School in Marietta, where he was a teammate of Bulldogs freshman receiver Dominick Blaylock.

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.

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