As SEC playoff contenders Bama, Vols and Mizzou fall hard, Georgia eyes 'long season'

Nick Saban wasn’t much to engage via text message while he was chasing championships at Alabama, but in his coaching afterlife that’s changed.

So it was that the now ESPN analyst traded texts with Georgia football coach Kirby Smart after the Bulldogs ’ 41-34 emotional loss to a Crimson Tide team now coached by Kalen DeBoer last Saturday.

“Hey, this is not the worst thing that ever happened,” Saban Saturday morning on College GameDay said was his message to Smart. “Most of our best teams lost a game somewhere along the line and they responded the right way because we had really good leadership on the team that held people accountable to do things you needed to do it to have success.”

Smart said after Georgia’s 31-13 win over Auburn Saturday in Sanford Stadium that it was he that shot a text to Saban after the loss to Alabama saying “the sun’s still going to come up tomorrow,” because Saban would use that saying.

“It’s so big for us as coaches, but it’s a game of football,” Smart said. “I told him Sunday morning, the sun’s still coming up. He said, ‘You’ve got a great team. They play really hard and they should be proud of the way they played. Keep getting better.'”

Georgia may have looked ragged at times Saturday, but it never was really in danger of losing.

Smart didn’t enter the postgame press conference until after No. 2 Alabama’s stunning 40-35 upset loss at Vanderbilt was decided on a day that ended with three unbeaten top 10 SEC teams losing.

“Nothing shocks me about our league,” Smart said. “Texas A&M-Missouri. Welcome to the SEC. It’s hard every week. I’ve got a feeling that it’s not going to stop. It’s a consistency of performance and when you ride the wave of emotions, you get caught on the bottom of the wave sometimes. …We’re just trying to keep getting better and keep getting better.”

Unbeaten No. 9 Missouri fell flat at Texas A&M, 41-10. No. Tennessee was upset at Arkansas, 19-14.

That means the SEC has just one remaining unbeaten: Texas.

The No. 1 Longhorns get Georgia in two weeks in Austin after their game with rival Oklahoma Saturday.

“We’re far from where we’re going to be at the end of the season I can tell you that,” said Georgia inside linebacker Raylen Wilson who had five tackles including one for loss. “It’s going to be the team that gets better at the end of the season wins.”

No. 5 Georgia (4-1, 2-1 SEC) isn’t playing at the level of its 2021 and 2022 championship teams or even its 2023 squad that missed out on the playoff but Saturday showed that that there seems to be more parity.

“It’s onto the next,” said defensive end Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins who had two sacks. “It’s a long season.”

The Georgia-Auburn game has lost its luster with the Tigers’ struggles and Georgia’s dominating the series of late, even with the storied history.

That meant it was overshadowed all week by the instant classic in Tusclaoosa where Georgia overcame a 28-0 deficit, went ahead late only to lose on a 75-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Williams.

“I'm gonna be honest, because all people talked about all week was what? That. Right?” Smart said. “That's all people talked about all week. I mean, it was all over every Twitter feed, all over every social media, everything. …We're not gonna win all of our games all the time. That's not gonna happen. I want our fan base to appreciate what we have and give their all and be unbelievable with crowd noise and make energy at home games.”

Then he called out Georgia fans because just the second home game of the season lacked the roar of the crowd that Smart wants to see.

“We need it to be tough on other teams to play here,” he said. “But it's not. It's not the same as it's been in the past. It's gotta be energetic. It's gotta be. It was hot today. It was hot. But it was hot on our players too. They pushed through it. It was a tough week, and we answered the bell."

Saban won four of his six national titles at Alabama with teams that lost one game during the season.

There’s more wiggle room now in a 12-team playoff for teams with two and perhaps three losses.

Alabama fell behind 13-0 at Vanderbilt Saturday and fans in Sanford Stadium did cheer loudly when Vanderbilt went ahead 20-7.

Quarterback Carson Beck went from four turnovers last week — three interceptions and a fumble — to none this week as the Bulldogs were turnover free.

“We had plays there,” Smart said on his radio show Thursday night about the offense against Alabama. “There was a max blitz, tunnel check. You throw a tunnel screen against max blitz you’re going to score. We missed a signal and it cost us a turnover.”

Former Vanderbilt quarterback Jordan Rodgers on SEC Nation mentioned that Arian Smith would have scored a touchdown on the play if Smith ran the right route.

“When you throw the ball 50 times, you’re bound to make mistakes,” Beck said after the Auburn game. “It is what it is whether it’s my fault or someone else’s fault. I’m always going to take blame and I’m going to come back and I’m gong to fix it. I’m going to be better the next week.”

Beck was 23 of 29 for 240 yards and 2 touchdowns Saturday. One of those was a long incompletion when Smart said Smith thought Beck was scrambling so he broke off his route.

Georgia made enough plays to make sure that an Auburn team that is reeling with a 2-4 record now and was an underdog of more than three touchdowns didn’t do what Vanderbilt or Arkansas did Saturday.

“I think our guys wanted to get that taste out of their mouth and go play,” Smart said. “That helped. We talked about earning the right to cut it loose. We really had not cut it loose in a game. And I don't know that we did today, but we're closer to it."

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: As SEC playoff contenders Bama, Vols and Mizzou fall hard, Georgia eyes 'long season'