Georgia Has Shown Everyone Who They Are
COLUMBIA, S.C.-- Georgia is legit, and now everyone knows it.
It’s seemed clear to people who keep up with Georgia football that this team was capable of competing for a National Championship. That’s because we knew what kind of talent this team had.
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Others didn’t. They only knew what kind of talent UGA had lost. Sony Michel, Nick Chubb, Isaiah Wynn, Roquan Smith, all big-name players. People from around the country only noticed their absence. Not who was filling in behind them.
“Georgia at #3 is way too high,” someone from across the country texted me after the first AP Top-25 was announced.
After today, the text I got was a little different.
“Georgia is so f@#$^&* good.”
That’s because the 41-17 dismantling of 24th-ranked South Carolina put everyone on notice. It showed the rest of the college football realm exactly what Kirby Smart said after last season’s National Championship.
Georgia isn’t going anywhere.
And this team knows that, no matter what kind of talent and leadership this team lost to the NFL Draft. In fact, that kind of chatter served as motivation for some of the guys who sat behind those talented players.
“We do hear about what we lost all the time,” said Elijah Holyfield, who sat behind Chubb and Michel all of last year. “So it’s good to go out and produce to show our new faces.”
After its 45-0 blowout over Austin Peay, Georgia still had a lot to prove. Sure, that game was a good warmup and allowed some guys to get valuable playing experience. However, it proved to nobody that Georgia was the team it showed it was today. Even Brett McMurphy still had Georgia as the eighth-best team in the country. Stuff like that is why Georgia needed not only this win but a “statement win,” as Jake Fromm called it. They had to remind everyone that Alabama isn’t the only title-contender in the SEC. And the Dawgs knew that.
“This was definitely a game that we had to come in and set an example,” Lamont Gaillard said. “We knew we had to come in here to Williams-Brice Stadium and be physical… And if we keep setting that standard at every game, then we’re going to be crazy phenomenal.”
The feeling of it is almost reminiscent of UGA’s win over Notre Dame last year, just to a greater degree this year. Going into South Bend last year, people were skeptical of Georgia after a rocky 2016 year. After winning at Notre Dame, Georgia didn’t jump into National Title conversations, but people took notice.
Now, after going into another hostile environment and proving superior, people are taking notice again. This time though, Bulldogs have shown all of college football that they are more than just a title contender. They are a title threat.
