Georgia might lose a game. It also will win another title

Georgia might – “might,” we say – be due for a lesser season, unless you count 2023 as a lesser season, which we shouldn’t. Yes, the Bulldogs missed the College Football Playoff, but only after a three-point December loss on a neutral field against the GOAT’s last team. That snapped the longest win streak in SEC annals.

Were there wobbles en route? Yes. The Bulldogs trailed South Carolina and Missouri in the second half. They were tied with Auburn inside the final three minutes. Georgia Tech scored the final 10 points to make it a one-score game at the end.

There were still days of domination. Georgia beat No. 20 Kentucky, No. 10 Ole Miss and No. 21 Tennessee by the aggregate score of 141-40. Still, last year’s Bulldogs saw seven of 14 opponents score 20 points; in 2021, eight of 15 didn’t get to 10.

If those Bulldogs were the least of the past three editions, they still came close to a third consecutive national championship. For the first time in eons, the ball didn’t bounce their way. On a day when a Georgia field-goal doinked off a post and a Tide non-catch wasn’t fully reviewed, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe fumbled on the game-clinching run. The ball popped back to him. Once every three years, it happens.

The latest band of Bulldogs, recipients of 46 of 62 first-place votes in the preseason AP poll, open Saturday against Clemson, which from 2015 through 2020 made the playoff every year. Georgia is a 12-point favorite on a neutral field. The Tigers are only the fourth-highest-rated team on this year’s schedule, which makes 2024 different from the past three seasons.

From 2021 through 2023, it was hard to find a probable Georgia loss, at least in the regular season. Indeed, those three regular seasons produced no losses. This fall will feature trips to Tuscaloosa, Austin and Oxford. It seems more probable than not that the Bulldogs will lose one of those games. They might lose more than one. But this year, unlike last, won’t be undone by one loss. It mightn’t be undone by two.

The final 2023 CFP poll had two-loss Oregon ranked No. 8, and last season – as Florida State fans know too well – was loaded with zero- and one-loss teams. The final poll of 2022 had two-loss Bama at No. 5; in 2021, two-loss Ohio State was No. 6. A two-loss Georgia will not miss this year’s 12-team event. If you’re a Bulldog fan, that’s the part of the sport’s changing landscape you love.

Here’s the part you don’t: An NIL-fueled transfer portal assures no team will ever have the depth the Alabamas and Georgias of recent vintage possessed. Running backs on Georgia’s 2021 champs: Zamir White, James Cook, Kenny McIntosh, Kendall Milton. Receivers on Alabama’s 2018 runners-up: Henry Ruggs, Jerry Jeudy, Jaylen Waddle, DeVonta Smith.

In 2021, Adonai Mitchell and Jermaine Burton caught playoff touchdown passes for Georgia. On Dec. 2, 2023, Burton caught a touchdown pass for Alabama that helped knock Georgia out of the playoff. On Jan. 1, 2024, Mitchell caught a touchdown pass for Texas in the playoff.

Georgia always will recruit at the highest level, but no team in our time of over-the-table money and unrestricted movement will keep third-stringers who fancy themselves Round 1 draftees from leaving. This week has yielded headlines including the words “Georgia” and “shorthanded” and “running back.” We haven’t heard such grim tidings since Herschel was a Johnson County senior.

The best programs will still have the best talent. They just won’t have as much. Depth separated the meek from the mighty – since 2016, Georgia has lost once to an unranked opponent – and the gap has narrowed There won’t be any Fairleigh Dickinson upsets in college football, but there’ll be upsets.

Which isn’t to say these Bulldogs won’t play for the national title on MLK Day 2025. They have the nation’s best coach. They have the nation’s best quarterback. There’s no Saban lurking. The 12-team playoff will allow a misstep or two. They won’t win all their games. They will win it all.

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