Georgia football looks to refocus in 2019 Sugar Bowl vs. Texas
Aiming to prove that they belonged in the College Football Playoff, Georgia football looks to shake off disappointment in the Sugar Bowl against Texas.
Bowl games are often tough to predict due to questionable motivation.
On paper, Georgia is the vastly superior team in the Sugar Bowl against Texas, in a game that isn’t likely to be all that competitive if Georgia shows up hungry and motivated to prove a point.
The Bulldogs had their hearts ripped out in Atlanta by Alabama for the second straight season, falling agonizingly short of a second straight SEC Championship and another appearance in the College Football Playoff.
There were some who felt like Georgia belonged in the playoff even after the 35-28 loss to Alabama handed them their second defeat of the season. After a pair of semifinal games that weren’t all that close, with neither Notre Dame nor Oklahoma seriously challenging the hierarchy of Clemson and Alabama, it’s fair to wonder whether the Bulldogs would have made for a more compelling matchup against either of the two finalists.
Will they have the requisite motivation to come out and prove a point in New Orleans in the Sugar Bowl against Texas? They’ll have to do so without talented corner DeAndre Baker, who decided to skip out on the bowl game to avoid a potential injury as he heads on to the NFL.
Jake Fromm was nearly perfect against the Crimson Tide, and will be hoping to replicate that performance against a leaky Texas defense that gives up 5.5 yards per play.
Texas was a tough team to get a read on throughout the 2018 season, with analytics consistently suggesting that the Longhorns weren’t as good as their ranking. The Jekyll-and-Hyde ‘Horns showed an ability to compete with the best, earning regular season wins over Oklahoma and Iowa State, while coming just a point away from beating West Virginia.
But they also showed the ability to lose to anyone, falling to bowl-less Maryland in the season opener at home, and dropping a game to 6-6 Oklahoma State. They also labored through wins over Tulsa, Kansas State, Baylor, and Texas Tech that were all closer than they should have been.
Texas did make it to the Big 12 Championship, however, where they acquitted themselves nicely before falling short against Oklahoma in the Red River rematch.
Tom Herman and Texas will get the opportunity to prove that they belong once again among college football’s elite if they can take down fifth ranked Georgia in New Orleans.
Here’s how you can watch the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day:
Date: Tuesday, Jan. 1
Time: 8:45 p.m. ET
Location: New Orleans, La.
Venue: Mercedes-Benz Superdome
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN | FuboTV
Keys to Victory
Georgia’s offense has too much balance and firepower for Texas to get a ton of defensive stops, particularly if Fromm is as dialed in as he was in Atlanta, so can the Longhorns force a few turnovers to give themselves a shot in this game? It’s hard to envision Texas having much of a chance if the game is played clean on both sides, so they’ll need to force Georgia into some mistakes, which is easier said than done against a Bulldogs team that only turned it over 12 times in 13 games.
For Georgia, with DeAndre Baker sitting out, the baton gets passed back to freshman Tyson Campbell, who saw plenty of playing time early in the year before riding the bench due to some expected freshman struggles. Against big Texas receivers Lil’Jordan Humphrey and Collin Johnson, Kirby Smart will need his freshman corner at his best as Sam Ehlinger locates Campbell and picks on him until he makes a play to stop it. Herman and Ehlinger have shown a willingness all season long to exploit one-on-one matchups on the outside, giving Humphrey and Johnson plenty of jump-ball opportunities. If Cambell struggles, then this game could turn into more of a shootout than Smart would prefer.
Betting Odds
Odds courtesy of oddsshark.com
Point Spread: Georgia -13
Over/Under: 58
Next. Lane Kiffin the obvious choice to bring Miami back. dark
Prediction
In my bowl confidence picks, there wasn’t a game I was more confident in than this one. Nothing has happened in the last few weeks to change my mind as I still view this as a significant mismatch. Georgia is one of the three or four best teams in college football this season, while Texas is more of a fringe top 25 team. As long as the Bulldogs sport the requisite motivation to come out and play well in this game, they should roll to a relatively easy win in the Sugar Bowl.
Final Score: Georgia 37, Texas 21