Georgia makes strong statement by making Orange Bowl matter

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Whether they admit it or not, the Georgia Bulldogs had something to prove on Saturday in the Orange Bowl, and they certainly did. Winning 63-3 over No. 5 Florida State, Kirby Smart’s crew won’t walk out of the 2023 season with a third straight championship, but it will do so with a 13-1 record and the largest bowl game margin of victory in College Football history.

How was it possible? Because it mattered.

“The game mattered because we’re playing a game. As long as winning matters we’re going to compete like hell at Georgia. It doesn’t matter who it is,” Smart said after the game. “We gave them about five things and we looked at them each day before practice, and there were five notes on there. One of them was the senior class turning 49 (wins) to 50, and these two guys right here (Kendall Milton and Kamari Lassiter) were a big part of it. They’re tremendous parts of our culture, and all games matter if you’re playing a game.”

Message received from Smart. After a turnover on downs in its first drive, the Georgia offense turned nine straight into touchdowns. Meanwhile, the defense – and special teams – did its job and forced punts and takeaways to get the ball back in the Bulldogs’ hands.

It looked effortless at times. It was seemingly easy. And yes, Florida State was probably out-manned with Georgia having almost everybody available while the Seminoles had several key contributors not suit up. Still, it was an impressive outing to say the least for the Bulldogs.

“Just being able to go out there with the guys, this is a team that after this game, nobody — it’s not going to be the same next year. People are going to go to the league, some to the portal, some might not play football. This team might not ever be the same,” the game’s MVP Milton said. “I feel like you have to really take advantage of every opportunity, and I really felt that being here for going on my fourth year I’ve seen teams change, I’ve seen 13 to 18 people leave, and the locker room is very different. So I feel like you have to really take advantage of every opportunity because you don’t get too many opportunities.”

“I think the game mattered just because if you’re a competitor, then every game matters. Every opportunity you get to go out there and play the sport you love, play in front of the people you love, play for the people you love, it’s second to none,” added the team captain cornerback Lassiter. “You can’t take it for granted, the opportunity to come out here and play with guys like this, play with coaches like this. Just being able to come out there and just go out there with the guys one last time this season, it meant the world.”

Smart took things a step further, adding some big picture thoughts and opinions on what needs to happen to make games like Saturday’s Orange Bowl – a non-Playoff bowl game – matter even more going forward. He called for change.

“Maybe I’m wrong here and maybe this will be a bad soundbyte, but people need to see what happened tonight and they need to fix this,” Smart said. “It needs to be fixed. It’s very unfortunate that they, who has a good football team and a good football program, are in the position they’re in.”

“College football has got to decide what they want, and I know things are changing. I know things are going to change next year. You know what, there’s going to still be bowl games outside of those,” he continued. “People got to decide what they want and what they really want to get out of it because it’s really unfortunate for those kids on that sideline that had to play in that game that didn’t have their full arsenal, and it affected the game 100 percent.”

Both Milton and Lassiter likely played their last game in a Georgia uniform on Saturday. They won’t be around in College Football to see that change that Smart desires, but neither ever really considered going out any other way than suiting up one last time – even in a so-called meaningless bowl game – for the University of Georgia. The taste of losing in the SEC Championship Game lingered, and the entire team – Milton and Lassiter included as leaders – bought in to going out on top with a strong showing in South Florida.

“To be honest, in any fight, in any war, I’m taking my guys against anybody,” Milton said when asked whether he believed the Bulldogs proved a point that they were worthy of being in the College Football Playoffs and would’ve had as good of a chance as anybody to end the season as the top team in the country. “That’s just the belief that I have. I have faith in my team that everybody is going to go out and lay it all on the line. I take my guys over everybody.”