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Georgia football doesn’t lose often under Kirby Smart and when it does, the Bulldogs usually have ample time to process it.
Saturday’s game against Auburn in Sanford Stadium will be the quickest turnaround from a loss for Georgia since a double-overtime home shocker against South Carolina in mid-October 2019.
The last two regular season losses came during the 2020 SEC-only schedule. Georgia had two weeks before its next game after losing to Alabama and another two after losing to Florida because of schedule adjustments made due to COVID-19 protocols.
Smart this week is pivoting from the 41-34 heartbreaking loss to Alabama the same as he always does going from one game week to another.
“I think we have a very set routine here, and we don’t make our routine based on outcomes, so whatever number of wins we’ve had prior to this one, we’re going to do the same thing we do today,” he said Monday. “I really believe in that process. I believe in telling the truth about the opponent, telling the truth about the strengths and weaknesses of who you’re about to play, and then you coach every week the same.”
How did then No. 3 Georgia respond to that 20-17 stunner to the unranked Gamecocks in 2019? It shut out Kentucky the next week 21-0.
Georgia is 13-3 after a loss under Smart, with seven straight wins following a loss.
The loss to Alabama was not only the first regular season loss since 2000 — breaking a 42-game winning streak —but the first Georgia loss before October since 2016 at Ole Miss, 45-14.
“It’s a learning experience,” offensive tackle Earnest Greene said. “We’ve turned the page already. It’s something you take everything from and just grow from it. You need some times like this to re-set and keep getting better.”
Smart had an upbeat message in the postgame locker room after Georgia stormed back from down 30-7 to take the lead 34-33 before the 75-yard Jalen Milroe to Ryan Williams touchdown pass.
“I have never in my life been more proud of guys competing for 60 minutes of the game over and over and over and over,” Smart said, according footage aired on his TV coaches show. “We said in the second half, we got to win more moments than them. One moment short, one moment short. But I want everyone to think about how you feel right now. OK, right now, how you feel because how you respond to this tells me everything about who you are.”
Said inside linebacker Smael Mondon: “It was tough at the time Saturday, but Saturday is over with. We’ve got a new opponent this week. It’s a new game week. We’ve got to learn from the mistakes, build on that and keep improving.”
Georgia now has a 72% chance to make the 12-team field in the ESPN Playoff Predictor. That is the fifth best overall odds and fourth best among SEC teams, behind Texas, Alabama and Tennessee. Its chance to reach the SEC championship game is now at 10.3%, according to ESPN.
“I feel real confident in the guys,” Mondon said. “I don’t think they’re going to let it linger. We’ve got confidence. We know what we can do as a team.”
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia insists it won’t let Alabama loss ‘linger’ into Auburn game