ATHENS - After Georgia football's giant 20-17 win over Alabama head coach Kirby Smart praised his team for their discipline, staying focused in the moment while the Crimson Tide lost their cool.
They beat Alabama because of their discipline, but the complete opposite happened against Auburn. Playing disciplined football is one of the pillars of Smart's program. His team came up short there, leading to one of the more embarrassing losses over the last 10 years.
The only way Georgia could've lost to Auburn was to turn the ball over and make untimely penalties. Of course that's exactly what happened. Smart had a lot to say about his team's undisciplined play after Georgia's tight loss.
“Penalties was one reason," Smart told reporters. "We literally just gave them a third down roughing the passer penalty. We don't get off the field when we substitute on our sideline. Those are silly, silly penalties. And then they hit two plays. You have to make this guy throw the ball to beat you."
"So they throw a trick pass, and we have two players that are on it, and they kinda collide and the guy makes a good play. And then the play on DeMello. DeMello's in great coverage. He's in great coverage position. That happens. They made two plays to get 14 points. If you hold either one of those to field goals, then it's a different ballgame."
The Tigers didn't play any different that they have all season. They ran their big 230-pound quarterback 26 times. They ran the ball over and over again, wearing out a Georgia defense that was completely out of gas, and discipline, when the game was on the line.
"Their quarterback's a good runner," Smart added. "And when you have a quarterback run game, it's just really hard because he has an extra hat. They were running plays with a lead blocker and a back, and we're a good run defense. We have a really good run defense to stop people, and they made it hard."
Yes, Auburn made enough plays to come out on top. They matched Georgia's physicality in the trenches, forced turnovers, and didn't make the costly mistakes down the stretch that Georgia did. They were not sloppy on offense and tackled well defensively, holding the Bulldogs to just 113 yards on the ground. That's a winning formula and a big reason why the Tigers came out on top.
However, Georgia's lack of discipline and inability to make plays in big moments cost them the game. You have to give Auburn credit, but it's clear Smart was aggravated by his team's lack of focus and discipline. The Dawgs beat the Dawgs on Saturday, and that's something that championship teams simply can't do.
There's a lot of football left this season, but if Georgia wants to bring home another trophy to Athens, they've got to be better internally. They'e got to play to their standard both physically and mentally, which is something they didn't do against Auburn.
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