Georgia Panic-Meter: How worried should the Dawgs be after Alabama loss?

Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs' troubles with the Alabama Crimson Tide continue. Even though is former employer is no longer led by his greatest mentor Nick Saban, Smart keeps having a miserable time going up against this SEC juggernaut. While he did beat Saban that one time in to win Georgia its first national championship in 41 seasons, it has been one Alabama loss after another...

Since 2021, Georgia has lost a combined three games, all of which have been to Alabama. Going back to 2020, the Dawgs have lost a combined five games. One was to Florida in The Cocktail Party. The other four have been to Alabama. Knowing that they will have to probably face them in a rematch if they want to be SEC or College Football Playoff National Champions, Georgia has to grow up fast.

To think that Georgia was going undefeated this season with that schedule was always going to be easier said than done. I will go out on a limb and say no team is going undefeated this season. It is a combination of conference realignment and the expanded College Football Playoff format. All I know is of the handful of teams who could conceivably run the gauntlet, Georgia will not be one of them.

It is a tough morning in Dawg Nation, but where should we set the panic meter for this Georgia team?

Georgia loses to Alabama: Where to set the panic meter in Athens?

Look. I think anybody watching that game would agree with this: Alabama and Georgia are both playoff locks, at least for the time being. The new 12-team format allows for great teams like the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide to overcome challenging defeats during the regular season. To be frank, I think either of these teams could go 9-3 and still have a decent chance of making the 12-team field.

While the Clemson win still carries some clout, as well as the Kentucky win looking better after the Ole Miss upset, the Dawgs need to win two of these three games to feel comfortable about their chances of getting in as an at-large team: Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas. Right now, Ole Miss seems to be the most winnable of the three, with the other team looking quiet daunting to say the very least.

The other thing you have to keep in mind is all of those teams, as well as the other five on the schedule, still have to play Georgia. I think this loss to Alabama hurts Georgia's chances of getting to Atlanta to play in the SEC title bout, but does not remove them from the equation entirely either. Now that I have the schedule component of it all sort of flushed out, I will look at the Georgia team itself.

Look. Carson Beck is never going to play that bad again in the first half. He turned the ball over four times in the game, and Georgia nearly pulled off the upset. Smart admitted he needs to do a better job of getting his team ready to play. I think a lot of this falls on defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann. He needs to be more of an alpha. As for Mike Bobo, he will keep being Mike Bobo.

As I watched that game unfold, I saw Georgia put forth a combined B- effort after undeniably failing in the first half, and they almost won. This team has yet to play a completely dominant game against a worthy adversay for a full four quarters. While I think they still have that in them, when are they going to do it? I think there is some amount of panic in the air. The season is still very young, so be patient.

Georgia should win its next two games over Auburn and Mississippi State before heading to Texas.

Georgia Panic-Meter: 4 out of 10