Good enough to go

Georgia won't be in Tempe, but Dawgs still belong

ATLANTA -- It would have been a great debate, wouldn't it, if Miami hadn't scored 500 points Saturday and bullied its way into the national championship game? It would have been a corker of a cross-country screamathon. It would have been all-out open season again on the Bowl Championship Series computers.

Who should play for the national championship?

The folks down here in Georgia would have been yelping, that's for sure. And up in Iowa. And, yeah, even those in Southern California, all of them trying to whine their way into the Fiesta Bowl. Maybe Washington State would be crying, too. Miami, even with a loss, might have had an argument.

But the Hurricanes didn't lose, doing what they had to do against Virginia Tech -- 101 points in a game, for crying out loud -- leaving two undefeated teams, Miami and Ohio State, to slug it out in Tempe on Jan. 3.

So Georgia, the best team not in Tempe, will have to be content with its first conference title in 20 years and the thought of what might have been.

"I feel like we definitely should have a shot at the national championship," said Georgia running back Musa Smith. "But it didn't roll that way."

No, by the time the Bulldogs bounced onto the field at the Georgia Dome, any chance they had at a national title was gone. The Bulldogs, after watching Miami's 56-45 wind-sucker over Virginia Tech, were left to face an Arkansas team with the Southeastern Conference title and a trip to the Sugar Bowl on the line. Nothing more. Nothing less.

As it turned out, that was plenty.

"This game, here, was a championship, too," said Smith, who rumbled for 112 yards and a couple of first-quarter touchdowns in Georgia's 30-3 win.

The victory gave Georgia its first SEC title since 1982, the year Herschel Walker won the Heisman Trophy.

"We won," said Smith. "We got rings. We're the best in the SEC. We're proud of what we've done."

Georgia, fourth nationally in both major polls and third behind Miami and Ohio State in the BCS rankings, proved without a doubt who the best team in the highly regarded SEC is. The SEC East champs stopped Arkansas on three straight plays on the game's opening possession, blocked a punt on the fourth play and banged in a touchdown -- Smith, running from two yards out -- on the next play.

A little over three minutes later, Smith juked into the line, bounced the run outside to the right and coasted 17 yards, untouched, for another score.

So much for that letdown over not getting a shot at the national championship.

"We'd like to have the chance," said Tony Gilbert, the Bulldogs' fine middle linebacker, as his team celebrated on the field after the win. "But it's OK."

In fact, there was little moaning about what could have been after the game. Instead, the Bulldogs showed what they are: a team on the rise.

They held the Razorbacks, ranked 22nd in both major polls, to one third-quarter field goal, and that was a 27-yarder the Razorbacks never would have had if not for a couple of Georgia personal fouls, one on a third-and-23.

The Bulldogs held the SEC's No. 1 running game, the eighth-best in the nation, to 113 yards -- more than 130 under its average. Arkansas gained only 139 yards overall.

The Bulldogs led 23-0 at one point, the largest shutout lead in the game's 11 years, and tied the game's record for fewest points allowed.

"They have got a good team with very few weaknesses, if any," Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt said. "Their defense is outstanding."

The BCS has been a breeding ground for bitching since its inception five years ago. But this year it's hard to argue with a 13-0 team playing a 12-0 team in the title game, no matter how flawed each team might be.

And it's not as if Georgia doesn't have its blemishes. The Bulldogs played a lot of close games against a lot of so-so competition. A three-point win over Clemson. A two-point win over Alabama. A five-pointer over Tennessee. Three over Auburn.

Georgia lost to Florida, too. Heck, even Florida State beat Florida.

Still, the Bulldogs won 12 games, counting Saturday over Arkansas, and now go to the Sugar Bowl as SEC champs to play Southern California or possibly Florida State.

"We were just one game away," said senior linebacker Boss Bailey.

Could the Bulldogs hang with Ohio State or Miami? If Miami had lost, should they have been there?

After the wipeout of Arkansas, it would be hard to argue against them.

"Who knows?" said David Greene, the Georgia quarterback.

"That's one thing we won't find out," Georgia receiver Michael Johnson said. "We're just going to have to wait for next year."

John Donovan is a senior writer for CNNSI.com.

Comments? To e-mail Donovan, click here.

 

Related information

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video