5 Georgia Bulldogs to blame for early College Football Playoff flameout

The Georgia Bulldogs will not continue in the College Football Playoff after suffering defeat at the hands of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Sugar Bowl. It was an ugly game and a loss full of missed opportunities and "what ifs."

Before the game was over, Georgia fans were ready to blame walk-on cornerback Parker Jones for impeding a ref on the sideline during a 67-yard Arian Smith catch. His interference penalty pushed the Bulldogs back from the Notre Dame 11-yard line to the 31.

Jones will get plenty of fingers pointed in his direction. Personally, I think there were much more impactful moments and people to blame for the Bulldogs' loss.

5. Jalon Walker

Georgia has a lot of great players in their lineup. Unfortunately, when teams with great players lose, the best of those players are often to blame.

Butkus Award winner and All-American linebacker Jalon Walker isn't the only person to blame on the Bulldog defense. He's just the clearest scapegoat to point toward as the smoke clears.

Georgia held Notre Dame to 90 passing yards, but they let Riley Leonard squeak free for 80 rushing yards. They couldn't contain the edge. They couldn't wrangle him or the Notre Dame running backs on the outside when it mattered. Walker was the best player on the field at times. Sadly, the one play you screw up might always make more of a difference than the dozens you made.

It was Walker who took the bait on Notre Dame's successful fourth down gamble, tricking the Georgia captain into giving them a free first down. There was no way the Irish were actually going to snap the ball for a fourth-down attempt at their own 18 with a tenuous lead. Walker should have known better. Walker does know better. He just lost his mind for a split second and it cost his team.

Would the Georgia offense have been able to capable of scoring two touchdowns to overcome the 13-point deficit at that point? I'm skeptical. The fact remains, the Bulldogs were going to get the ball back with a chance to close it to a one-score game with seven minutes on the clock. They didn't touch the ball again until there were under two minutes left. It was a game-clinching error.

4. Gunner Stockton

Gunner Stockton got thrown into a difficult situation but it's really simple: Protecting the football matters. Turnovers change games and Stockton's was about as costly as they come.

With just 39 seconds before halftime, the Bulldogs trailed 6-3. Taking that deficit into the break would not have been the end of the world. But they took the chance on having Stockton drop back for a pass and catastrophe struck. A sack fumble gave the Irish the ball at the 13-yard line. Riley Leonard immediately threw a touchdown to Beaux Colins to extend the advantage to two scores.

Notre Dame scored 10 points in 10 seconds. If Stockton had better protected the football, the tenor of the game would have been very, very different going into the third quarter.

The quarterback had his moments. On another day, he might have been capable of leading his team to victory. He just didn't have enough to make up for the turnover this time.

3. Everyone not named Gunner Stockton

When you're giving a quarterback his first ever start in a playoff game, it would be nice if the rest of the offense supported him. That's not what Stockton got.

First let's talk about his offensive line, who were manhandled by the Irish. Notre Dame didn't even have their best lineman, Rylie Mills, available. Can you imagine the havoc he would have wrecked if healthy? As it was, Stockton took four sacks and was hurried all game.

When Stockton did have time to throw and got off a pass, his receivers didn't do him many favors. Aside from struggling to get seperation, receivers like David Bell flat out dropped significant opportunities. Bell's inexplicable drop on what would have been a deep completion might be the worst drop by a Georgia receiver all year. And they've had plenty to vie for that crown.

The running game could have been Stockton's best friend, but critical errors came from the running back room too. Trevor Etienne fumbled away one red zone opportunity when a Georgia touchdown or even field goal would have opened the scoring.

2. Mike Bobo

A whole lot of people could have told the Bulldogs that hiring Mike Bobo to replace Todd Monken wasn't the move. They scraped by in 2023. The warning signs were there. This year the Bobo issue became even more pronounced.

Notre Dame has a formidable defense. No one should have expected the Bulldogs to drop 40 on them. But they should have scored more than 10. A lot more.

Georgia made it inside the Notre Dame 35-yard line four times and got just 10 points out of it. The play-calling close to the goal line was head-scratching. Sure, Bobo couldn't stop Trevor Etienne from coughing up the ball, but he had other good chances to put the Bulldogs on the board.

Gunner Stockton and the offense were handcuffed by Bobo's lack of creativity and adjustment. They turned the ball over on downs three times because just about every play Georgia ran was a struggle.

Bobo can't blame this one on a backup QB. Stockton looked as lost as Carson Beck before him. It's an OC problem.

1. Kirby Smart

Kirby Smart doesn't get outcoached all that often. He got outcoached by Marcus Freeman in the Sugar Bowl. He was outcoached on offense. He was outcoached on defense. He was outcoached on special teams.

Smart had an extra week to prepare for Notre Dame. It didn't look like it. The Bulldogs were hanging by a thread almost the whole way. Things went very wrong when Stockton's sack fumble set up a Notre Dame touchdown, but even before then Georgia looked flummoxed by the Irish.

The buck always stops with the head coach, for better or worse. We've seen what Georgia looks like when Smart gets things right. They're a dominant sight to behold. This wasn't that team; it hasn't been all season.