“There’s no excuse for us losing the Sugar Bowl,” said Hardman, who is training for the upcoming NFL Combine at Michael Johnson Performance.
“We should’ve won that game. There’s no excuse for how we played.”
It would have been nice to have realized that before the game, my man.
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Considering Hardman had 1 catch for 3 yards (for a TD), I assume he was looking in a mirror when he made that statement. I read the article, and he sounded like Florida players after we beat them physically the last 2 years.
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And that TD was in “last minute of the game garbage time.”
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With Baker who is a DGD, on the sidelines, it reminded the players who were coming in or going out that this game is not really important. Players that sit out the bowl game should stay home, regardless how great they were when they played.
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No way can you do that and not have it beaten over your head in recruiting. Everyone knew the game didn’t mean anything. The team should have backed up all of their social media posts after the 2 semifinal games by taking Texas behind the woodshed.
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i really don’t think a recruit is going to be looking at the travel roster and judging whether non-playing NFL holdouts are included. Also, we sign like 99% of our recruiting class 10 days prior to this.
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You don’t think another coach would use it to negative recruit against Kirby if he didn’t allow guys who decide to sit to attend the bowl game in the future?
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I think it would only highlight that we’re sending players to the league… an incoming recruit is not focusing on what some departee is or is not doing in the last game of their career.
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So, using your logic, we should tell every player who has NFL ambitions as a senior or early departing 3rd year, “Please sit out this meaningless bowl game and you won’t attend, so recruits can see how many guys are going to the NFL.”
I was only responding to the point the commenter was making above that Kirby should have told Baker, “If you aren’t going to play, you aren’t coming to New Orleans.” My reaction was that a coach would be foolish to do that because other coaches would tell future recruits Kirby only has use for you as long as you’re playing.
My problem with Baker was he announced at the CFB awards show that he was playing and then decided not to. That mind change probably permeated the team.
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Was that quote from Mecole, or Captain Obvious?
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Forgot how many drops we had in that game….not a lot of effort/focus imo.
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Swift had a couple of “drops”.
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Hardman was just one of several UGA players whose focus was elsewhere, not just during the game, but for weeks leading up to it. Doesn’t excuse the OL performance against Texas, but thoughts of the NFL was the key difference maker.
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I don’t know who to blame – Hardeman (spelling?), Chaney or Fromm, but I felt all season like they needed to give him more targets. I guess we’ll see what the NFL people think of him.
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His first statement may contradict his second to last paragraph a bit.
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I was incredibly angry at the team for mailing it in. I can forgive poor play but I can’t forgive poor effort. It’s a privilege to play football at UGA. Don’t take a single snap for granted.
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But we did.
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The story here is not that most of the team mailed it in.
Everybody knows that.
I think the story here is that a DGD feels remorse and regrets the letdown.
Kirbs should make a video of him telling why that game was important. Show it to future teams…tell them that you don’t want to end your Dawg Years on such a note.
I think Ben Franklin (Poor Richard’s Almanac?) said, “Anything worth doing is worth doing right”.
Remember the crap we gave Auburn when they didn’t get off the bus against UCF? I wouldn’t have thought a UGA team would do the same…but they did.
I’m kind of proud of Mecole.
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They knew exactly what we were doing offensively from the start….and we mostly kept doing it. “Impose your will” struck again. Chaney is gone but he got replaced by an understudy and Smart watched it all. Be interesting to see if we have any flexibility moving forward.
I love imposing your will but it’s not the end all be all. That one track mind is how you end up bragging about a NC appearance.
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Seemed like the entire team, players and coaches, mailed it in. I don’t know if there is much to off-season momentum but that’s about the worst way to go into an offseason. Huge step backwards from a program that just played for a NC and whose HC said we aren’t going anywhere immediately after that NC.
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Between this and his “Fields for Heisman” tweet, Mecole is not exactly endearing himself to what should be his most ardent support group.
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