Not really a ‘Happy New Year’ for college football fans. At least not for Kirby Smart’s Georgia Bulldogs fans. The Sugar Bowl instead of leaving them with sweet memories, will now be remembered as a bitter chapter. All thanks to Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame Fighting Irish for giving Smart’s boys a grounding alert. But is the HC bitter with the loss? Definitely not. Instead, Smart owns the loss.

Not even for once did he try to push their mistakes under the table. Instead, he subtly brushed the factors that made it unfavorable for them to fight against the Fighting Irish. Meanwhile, even though it has been a tough game to watch for the Georgia fans, there has been a post-game moment that must have made their hearts full. 

So what’s the conclusion of Georgia’s 2024 season? They fell to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish by a score of 23-10. The Dawgs dominated the stat sheet in every way but the one that mattered. Freeman’s boys scored the bulk of their points in 54 seconds of game time. But was Smart surprised? Not at all.

Instead, during his post-game press release, he shared that everything was very much in their syllabus. The Georgia HC stated, “Yeah I would open with a lot of credit to Notre Dame and their staff and their team. They played exactly like we expected—physical, tough, don’t beat yourself and they did that. They did those exact thing.”

Post which the Georgia HC shed light on their shortfalls. “We basically spiraled them, probably 14 points after that costed ourselves a possession in the red area when we fumbled down there, but they did a really good job,” Smart took the accountability. The Fighting Irish got two turnovers and stymied the Georgia rushing attack in the victory. Well, Notre Dame forced Smart’s program to fumble—not once, not twice, but THRICE! However, the Bulldogs did not give up.

They gave in their blood, sweat, and tears to get the run game going. But the end result? Finishing with just 62 yards. As per Smart, the biggest gaffe of the game was when the Bulldogs gave up a kickoff return touchdown to Fighting Irish’s Jayden Harrison. This was enough for Notre Dame to go up by 17. The frustrating plays continued for Georgia throughout the second half. That’s when Smart’s WR Dillon Bell slipped the pigskin on what would’ve been a walk-in deep touchdown.

Smart even addressed the pre-game conditions as he said, “The injuries that we’ve had and winning an SEC Championship, which I have so much respect for our conference, and to win some of the comeback games they won and never quit even in this game….we have a lot of guys moving on, lot of guys hurt in that locker room because we didn’t get the outcome we wanted.” Yes, the injuries plagued the Bulldogs. For instance, their quarterback Carson Beck underwent surgery on his elbow, and RB Branson Robinson got injured in the knee. Even though he tried to address the issues, the Georgia head coach is already facing criticism for his decisions. 

How did Kirby Smart’s aggressive playcalling backfire? 

Well, we know how Smart has been confident about his quarterback, Gunner Stockton. But maybe the Georgia HC got too ambitious with his signal-caller. After Freeman’s boys kicked a field goal to go up 6-3 in the final minute of the half, it somehow triggered the Bulldogs. They then oathed to be aggressive and try to get more points on the board. But hardly did they think that the decision would backfire.

Stockton fumbled the pigskin on Georgia’s first play of the series. The Fighting Irish did not let the chance slip away. Notre Dame recovered and was able to tackle a touchdown on the very next play to make it 13-3 going into the break. That’s how the luck didn’t favor the Bulldogs. 

Kirby Smart said, “We tried to be aggressive in 2-minute and probably regret it—go to the half 6-3. We wanted to show confidence in our quarterback and let him go play. We didn’t get the block we needed to get and they made a good play.” But the Georgia HC warded off all the bad feelings.

He did not just walk away with the loss but waited for a minute, came midfield, and shook hands with Marcus Freeman. That’s the only sweet ending that Georgia fans got lucky to witness.