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Georgia doesn’t owe Florida State an apology, even if non-CFP bowls need ‘fix’
System
Posts: 10,451 admin
Georgia doesn’t owe Florida State an apology, even if non-CFP bowls need ‘fix’
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — To be clear, let’s say this loud for those in the back: Georgia does not owe Florida State an apology.
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Georgia's backups trounced FSU's backups for the entire second half. I don't think their starters would have fared much better. Go Dawgs!
Nice article overall, Mike. But in the end, I was disappointed to see you use your platform to perpetuate an absolutely and objectively false narrative about bowl games - one that is fueling the mentality surrounding the games that you yourself say needs fixing.
We still would have beaten them by 30 points if all of their starters had played.
I actually looked back at Washington’s schedule and games. There’s no way that team should have started off or remained as high as they did considering the teams they played and barely beat. I’ll still never understand how UGA was #1 all year, lose a 3 point game to Bama (don’t even talk about the botched incomplete pass to give Bama 7 points), and then UGA drops all the way to 6 after beating multiple top 10 teams? I really hated the BCS era when it deprived us of the UGA/USC matchup everyone deserved, but the committee is a complete joke. There will still be issues with the 12 team playoff but at least a few more deserving teams will get a chance.
Last night there was only ONE statement made.....The Dawgs are the BEST TEAM in college football.....when your first team totally dominates a previously undefeated conference champion then surrenders the field of play at the half to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th string and they never miss a beat, I believe it is evident there is no better football TEAM in America......Only a few coaches will admit it but The Dawgs are the TEAM every other team in America strives to become......If things play out the way I believe they will, Bama will sweep the competition and The Dawgs will take the #2 position in the final rankings.....by 3 points.
IMHO.....My Unsung Hero of the 2023 season.......Helmets off and a SICEM WOOF WOOF WOOF to Cash Jones, a DGD!
Mike is just showing his age and history of the game. Once upon a time they were considered exhibitions and the stats didn’t count towards final totals.
Weren't the bowl games the final criteria for naming a national champion way back when? Seems like that goes back at least 50 or 60 years by now? Anyway, I doubt that the vast majority of people who so carelessly toss that phrase around are from an era when bowl games didn't count, and also still somehow haven't caught onto the fact that they've been counting for decades now. I think it's much more likely that it's one of those things that people say because people say it. Either way, there is clearly no thought whatsoever put into it, nor is there any denying the damage that it's doing to the sport.
Yep. It was a thorough enough beatdown to convince anyone but Chief Whathisname and his allapaloosa that UGA had a better argument for making the playoffs than FSU did.
Couldn't agree more with your platform point... and who, in the first place, is saying UGA owes FSU an apology anyway? I thought CKS, with his pulling most of the first team by early in the 2nd half, was pretty gracious. As many have said, well beyond UGA fans, when you put strings 2-5 in, you have to let these hard-working, frequently unheralded young men play as they've earned the right to.
Regardless, a fitting end to a great season, and nothing about how the CFP plays-out will change my appreciation for this wonderful team... thank you, Dawgs, and best wishes for an awesome 2024!
😁👍🙏
The Bowl season has definitely gotten out of hand. 41 bowls is just crazy and TOO much. Teams that are barely batting .500 do NOT belong or deserve a bowl game. It's a slap in the face to those teams that actually do deserve a bowl game.
College football has got to be more than just chasing the almighty dollar, because that is the only thing that bowl season has become.
Folks getting real literal with "exhibition," I was using in the sense of "display" of Georgia's talents. There are no such thing as CFB exhibition games.
Ok I'll take your word for it, but that's not how it read in the article. The fact remains that people use the term as a way of asserting the so-called meaninglessness of all non-playoff bowl games, which I think is a real issue in the sport that warrants a lot more pushback than its been getting. I see you went back and revised your phrasing, which I do appreciate.
I completely agree about the shameless corporatization of bowl season. Give me absolute power for a day and there's quite a few changes I would make to the system in that regard. But that's not a reason to write off the games themselves. Every bowl game counts just as much as any, oh I don't know, week 7 game that any non-playoff caliber team will ever play. But we never have this inane debate about whether those teams' players should be taking the field that week.
As I've said before, this idea that bowl games don't matter is arbitrary and senseless. The players (those who haven't packed it up for the season) still suit up, go out there and compete. And more often than not, you'll see a genuine celebration from the winning team. (See: Georgia's win over Cincinnati) The fact that corporations have been allowed to treat the sport like it's their territory to pi$$ on is indeed a real problem. But it's one that needs to be viewed independently from the legitimacy of the games themselves.
Exhibition, display......indeed we witnessed in stark contrast.....two divergent philosophies from the starting point of "amateur student athlete" to self serving entrepreneur.... TEAM vs what's best for me and I attribute the difference to coaches, AD's and Presidents. Every citizen of The Dawg Nation, whether student athlete, student, alum, or fan must appreciate that at The University of Georgia the philosophy of dedication to accomplishing goals by overcoming hardships through TEAM work is not only espoused but insisted upon and that leadership is encouraged of every player and every student. I for one am extremely proud of the culture Kirby Smart has created at Georgia and the support he gets from Josh Brooks and Jere Morehead.....Opt Outs, not part of a DGD's culture!
I agree that is older fans have a different since of time. For many of us, 1974 was in the heart of our misspent youth. That was the year the coach’s poll started using bowl games to determine the champ. The AP started a few years earlier.
Mike has tried to explain the use of the word and I believe he has earned the journalistic latitude to use an alternative phrase. Especially with a 63-3 game where 2 walk on QBs were active.
wherever you stand on this- go out and enjoy some time with family and friends. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Kirby employed the mercy rule when he replaced Beck as well as many other starters after just the first half.
Alot of coaches wouldn't have done that, but Kirby has class, and he sees the wisdom of building depth over padding the stats.
Kirby's Dawgs were again the best team in 2023, too many injuries are the only thing (and some bad officiating) that kept them from going undefeated.
The playoff committee failed college football when they decided to keep this team out even with their lone loss of 3-points, despite that being the best loss of any team that they voted in.
Really boils down to how you run your program. With the portal and nil deals left and right there's a certain level of entitlement that some of these young kids have. Players opting out of a bowl game for whatever reason is a personal choice. On one side you can understand some of it. The other side is the commitment and a sense of loyalty to a team. UGA has embraced the new reality of 'free agency' and going after quality players to backfill those moving on. Recruiting well is another example of the standard set. Certainly Coach Smart stresses work ethic to his players and staff.
Georgia had just as many players missing from the Orange Bowl as FSU. The Dawgs were without the best player in college football for this game. Yet they went about it the right way - "As long as winning matters" - that's the goal.
Either you can manage your program to the best of your ability based on what has been presented to you or you can take a negative view of the situation and have it filter down to your team. FSU had the same opportunity as UGA. Maybe FSU owes an apology.