Why this year’s bowl game results were more meaningful than usual for Georgia, Auburn

So bowl games don’t matter, huh?

Consider the vibes that have come out Auburn and Georgia since New Year’s Day. Auburn’s Outback Bowl loss to Minnesota Bowl resuscitated dissatisfaction in Gus Malzahn, while Georgia’s Sugar Bowl win over Baylor restored hope for 2020 among Bulldog fans.

So much of sports today is about optics, and that’s especially true for college football. In reality, though, Georgia’s win was much more important than Auburn’s loss was for the respective programs.

Before the bowl games, Georgia was reeling while Auburn was rolling. Or, at least, that was the public perception. Almost forgotten was that the Bulldogs beat the Tigers in Auburn just two weeks before Thanksgiving.

Georgia’s struggles against Texas A&M, its costly win over Georgia Tech — D’Andre Swift’s shoulder injury and George Pickens’s suspension — followed by the blowout loss to LSU in the Sugar Bowl changed the narrative. Then came the surprising news that offensive line coach Sam Pittman, an extraordinary recruiter, left to take the head coaching job at Arkansas. Then came rumblings that quarterback Jake Fromm was having a change of heart about returning to Athens for his senior year.

They already have to replace both starting offensive tackles and Swift. Several other players were missing, most by choice or bad decisions.

Meanwhile, Auburn followed its exhilarating victory over Alabama with the hiring of Chad Morris, recently fired as Arkansas’s head coach, as offensive coordinator. At the same time, a recruiting surge pushed Auburn into the top 10 in national rankings for the first time in four years.

The Tigers had an opportunity to keep the momentum going. But not only did they blow it, the way in which they lost elevated concerns about next season. Quarterback Bo Nix struggled. The running game was ineffective. Even the mighty defense, which held LSU to 23 points, got pushed around. Despite all of the talk from the players about treating the game and opportunity for 10 wins with urgency, the Tigers played like they were ready to go home.

Even so, the loss was far from devastating. They have a chance to add to an already strong recruiting class. Morris has eight months to work with Nix and the offense. The schedule is much more favorable this year. They open with essentially a practice game against Alcorn State. North Carolina replaces Oregon as the toughest non-conference opponent. Kentucky at home replaces Florida on the road as the rotating SEC East opponent. LSU comes to Auburn — without Joe Burrow. Yeah, they play at Georgia and at Alabama. Overall, though, the schedule is much more navigable.

In sum: opportunity lost, but time to move on.

But a loss for Georgia would have made for a much longer offseason. The Bulldogs desperately needed a shot of good news. Not only did they win, but how they won regenerated hope for 2020. Pickens finally played like the dominant receiver that he can — and needs to — become. Zamir White, starting for Swift, had by far his best game as a Bulldog.

“I think we had, probably, the best two and a half weeks of practice we’ve had all year,” Fromm said. “There was an opportunity for a lot of guys to come out and have their coming out party.”

The absence of key contributors gave opportunities for younger players to shine. Georgia coach Kirby Smart agreed with that assessment, but offered a word of caution.

“Those kids are tremendous players, but they will only be as good as they can be if they stay as hungry as they are,” Smart said. “When you’re not hungry, you become average. Some of that, I think, has affected us in the past. We’ve got to find a way in this program to not let that creep in and keep that same player you had as a young player, because we’ve had that happen to several guys that were really hungry, and they become full. You can’t become full when you go play the teams we play against.”

Swift has made it official that he’s leaving early. There’s likely to be at least one or two more. Whether Fromm is among them could determine whether the Bulldogs will be one of the favorites to reach the College Football Playoff or go through an offseason of uncertainty.

Even if Fromm leaves, the Sugar Bowl win helped restore hope that the program is indeed still on solid ground.