The Georgia Bulldogs were working hard Sunday night to put a positive spin on their berth in the Belk Bowl. Considering where they were only 10 days ago, that was a tough task.
The No. 13-ranked Bulldogs (9-3) were chosen to face No. 21 Louisville (9-3) in the Dec. 30 bowl game in Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. It was deal brokered by the SEC in the new bowl-selection process that came as a result of the inaugural College Football Playoff.
On Nov. 28, Georgia was still eyeing the possibility of playing in the SEC Championship game and, ranked No. 9 at the time, looked like a shoo-in for an access bowl. But that required a victory against Georgia Tech, and the Bulldogs lost 30-24 in overtime.
“The feeling is we’re thankful for the opportunity to play and we’re thankful to the Belk Bowl for giving us the opportunity to compete,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said.
Georgia was passed over by the Citrus Bowl, the only one of the SEC’s 11 bowl tie-ins that has a free and clear choice of participants in the new world order. The Citrus chose SEC Championship game loser Missouri (10-3), even though the Tigers carry a lower CFP final ranking (16) than Georgia (13) and lost to the Bulldogs 34-0 on Oct. 11 in Columbia, Mo.
“If you are not in the access (or ‘Big Six’) bowls, probably every school would have desired to be in the Citrus Bowl,” Georgia Athletic Director Greg McGarity said Sunday night. “That is naturally a higher pick than the ‘pool of six.’ No question, absolutely. But (the Citrus) chose to take the Eastern Division champion. Just flip it the other way. If we were in their shoes, we would probably say, ‘doesn’t winning the East mean something?’ Whether we like it or not with regard to ranking, they were there (in Atlanta) and we weren’t.”
Under its new agreement with the SEC, the Citrus is required to take the conference championship loser at least once every six years. With Sunday’s selection, the bowl fulfilled that obligation.
“Hard decision, huge debate,” Citrus Bowl CEO Steve Hogan said. “You’ve got a couple of teams just a couple of places apart in the polls at the end of the day. We had a championship game participant in Georgia here two seasons ago and we had a similar situation this year with Missouri. That’s how we shook out on it.”
UGA then fell into what the SEC calls its “pool of six” group. That group gets placed by the SEC into one of six bowls: The Outback (Tampa), Music City (Nashville), Taxslayer (Jacksonville), Liberty (Memphis), Texas (Houston) and Belk. The conference considers those bowls equal in terms of prestige and payout.
The SEC designated Auburn for the Outback, Tennessee for the TaxSlayer Bowl, LSU for the Music City, Arkansas for the Texas Bowl and Texas A&M for the Liberty
“The intent of the pool of six was to not have a pecking order,” McGarity said. The charge for the conference office was to create the best matchups possible considering all of the factors involved, not only what the institution would like to do, but what the conference sees as the best matchups. So all those factors have to be considered and the athletic directors trust the commissioner to make the best decision on behalf of the conference and us.”
The SEC certainly got it right in terms of proximity and intrigue. Charlotte is just 245 miles from Atlanta, or a 3 1/2-hour drive up I-85. And the Louisville coaching storyline is a real doozy.
From the Bulldogs’ standpoint at least, the Cardinals can be painted as the villains. They are coached by Bobby Petrino, who has been reviled by Falcons fans since he abruptly left as the team’s coach before the end of the 2007 season so he could accept a job at Arkansas.
And Louisville’s defensive coordinator is Todd Grantham. Grantham also left Georgia high and dry. He skipped out on the Bulldogs in the middle of recruiting — on Jan. 13 of this year — to accept Petrino’s offer of a five-year contract and $150,000-a-year raise. Grantham further inflamed Georgia fans when, upon his introduction to Louisville fans, he informed them his defense had been “the backbone” of Georgia’s SEC East championship runs in 2011 and ‘12.
The Bulldogs’ defense was indeed stout in 2011. But they struggled on that side of the ball in 2012 and ‘13. His last season in Athens, Georgia was 78th in points allowed, 45th in total defense, 60th in passing defense, 66th in third-down defense and 86th in red-zone defense.
Louisville’s defense has been impressive in its first season under Grantham. The Cardinals are sixth in the nation in total defense (293.3 ypg) and third against the run (93.7).
“From what I’ve seen of them, they’ve been outstanding,” Richt said. “Very, very impressive. They do a good job of a lot of things despite stopping the run. … Certainly Todd has done a very good job there.”
Georgia has played in 50 bowls, which ranks fourth all time. The three schools ahead of the Bulldogs are Alabama (61), Texas (53) and Nebraska (51). The bowl bid was also the 18th in a row for UGA, which is the third-longest streak in the nation.
