Play.
Dan Lanning said that their approach doesn't change.
Dan Lanning says that the approach of the Georgia football team will be the same as it has been all season. (0:47)
1:44 PM
Jordan Davis knows what he's supposed to say now, that Georgia's loss was a blow, but not the end of the journey, that the SEC championship game was weeks ago, and that the team will play Michigan in the College Football Playoff on Friday. The UGA defense was mauled by Alabama and there is no connection between that and the events of that day.
Davis may actually believe that. It'd be hard to say that Alabama's win over the seemingly unbeatable Georgia was over for him.
"Any game I lost in high school, it still hurts me," Davis said. You can't think about the past. Nothing you can do about it.
That's not correct. Georgia's defense, which allowed just eight touchdown in the first 12 games of the season, could make changes, tinker with the scheme, and find ways to stop Alabama after they scored 41 points on it.
Quay Walker said that you can only do three things: focus on us, Michigan and what we can do to get better.
There may be lessons to be learned from the Alabama loss, but trying to change the wheel in the wake of that game is more likely to disrupt the defense than it is to help. Georgia's goal in preparing for the Capital One Orange Bowl was not to beat Alabama, but to find a better version of itself.
Kirby Smart said that the challenge is there and that they have worked hard on themselves. What are we giving up? What are they seeing on us? What changes can we make that will benefit us? How do we get better fundamentally, not about the last game, has been our focus.
It's difficult when the last game and the next game are separated by a month. It's a different animal when pundits proclaim a unit to be among the best in recent memory, only to see it go down in flames in the biggest game of the season. Georgia was not just the top team in the country entering that game. It was not a challenger. The narrative turned in a flash.
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Can Georgia really get rid of the effects of such a performance?
It might be best to let the loss affect the team. The coaching staff still saw flaws in Georgia's defense despite the fact that many outsiders looked at it as just shy of miraculous.
"If you sat in our meetings, you would know that we didn't play well in a lot of the games," Smart said.
The coaching staff preached brutal honesty about technique and execution throughout the year. Georgia was flooded with rave reviews, and it might have been called "rat poison". The SEC championship game may have been the needed antidote.
"Alabama did a great job against us, and I think they've left a little bit of hunger there for us to get an opportunity to go back out there and play again," said Dan Lanning, who's pulling double duty in the playoff.
Who is Georgia's biggest opponent this week?
Is it Alabama that looms over Georgia at this point? The 2008 "blackout" game that exposed the overhyped preseason No. 1 team, the 2012 SEC title game when the final pass fell just short of the end zone, and the national title game when Georgia lost in overtime are all examples of the biggest teams.
Is it Michigan, the team waiting for UGA at the Orange Bowl, the obstacle standing between the two teams, or is it UGA? Georgia's O-line will face an immense challenge against pass-rushers like David Ojabo and Aidan Hutchinson, and Smart raves about Michigan's power running game and quarterback Cade McNamara's quick release.
Josh Gattis, Michigan's offensive coordinator, doesn't think it's possible to call the Alabama loss a blueprint. Georgia is a really good defense, but it does give us a little bit of confidence.
"We understand where they can be attacked and we just want to keep attacking those spots," said Michigan receiver Mike Sainristil.
Georgia believes they have addressed the concerns.
"We went to the doctor to see what hurt us, what we didn't do, and how we didn't execute," Dean said. We worked on that. It's a new game plan because we're on another opponent.
Is it simply Georgia? The long wait between the SEC title game and the Orange Bowl gave Georgia plenty of time to address some issues, but also fault lines that Smart and his staff saw all year.
Georgia must put behind a loss to Alabama in order to beat Michigan in the Orange Bowl.
"We're not going to be the same team as we were last time we played Michigan," Davis said. We have to keep moving forward and worry about ourselves.
Georgia will face all three opponents in the Orange Bowl. It is difficult to shake off the nightmare of the SEC championship game, but a strong start against Michigan would certainly help. The power ground game of the Michigan is better for the defense than the Alabama power ground game is. There will be no rat poison this time. Georgia has been talking about its failures over the past month. That could be a blessing.
The College Football Playoff is upon us after a wild regular season. Everything you need to know is here.
The complete bowl schedule is included in the preview.
Every bowl game has players and storylines.
The Fiesta and Rose are previews.
