re: Georgia fans...so arrogant and may be whistling past the graveyard

quote:

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I get the idea listening to Smart and UGA players that every game is a must win game. Probably plays a large role in the fact that they have lost 2 games in 3 seasons.

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While this is true, there is one example of the UGA coaching staff not treating a game as "must win".

That would be the SECCG in 2021 against Bama. For UGA to have a shot to come back and win that game, they would have needed to make a QB change. Stetson was playing poorly and JT Daniels had a bigger arm that could have given them a shot to win (Doesn't mean they would have, it just would have given them a shot).

The problem is it would have made it hard to go back to Stetson afterwards, win or lose.

But at that point, the results in the Big 12 title game already pretty much locked UGA into getting a playoff spot. So Smart "showed confidence" in Stetson and left him in the game, banking on that helping UGA in the playoff despite pretty much giving up on winning the SECCG.

And it worked. Stetson was great against Michigan in round 1 and against Bama in round 2 of the playoff. But a coach doesn't make that move if they felt like the SECCG was a "must win".