This isn't exactly the way it's supposed to go down in the regular season finale for Georgia football under Kirby Smart.
Georgia Tech had been an appetizer of sorts before the main course.
Flicking away the rival Yellow Jackets and then the Bulldogs sinking their teeth into an SEC championship matchup is the way it's been the last two seasons.
That's how an unbeaten Georgia arrived at Mercedes-Benz Stadium all but assured of making to the four-team playoff win or lose.
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A loss to Alabama didn't keep the Bulldogs from the field in 2021 because three of the four playoff teams had one loss.
Georgia routed LSU in 2022 but was viewed as in anyway considering one-loss Ohio State and TCU made the field.
This time could be different.
Dropping a game to Alabama on Saturday would leave Georgia on edge for more than 16 hours until playoff bids are revealed on Sunday.
Smart, after his team left with a 31-23 victory at Georgia Tech on Saturday, was asked in the postgame press conference if his team was worthy of a playoff spot already or if it will come down to beating Alabama?
"I really wouldn't even want to answer that, you know what I mean," said Smart, whose team is seeking history as the first team to become three-peat national champions since Minnesota in the mid 1930s. "I'm so worried about what we're doing and getting better, I'm going to leave that to you guys. Like I'm not worried about lobbying. I'm worried about playing for an SEC championship which is really hard, really hard to get."
Heading into championship weekend there are four unbeaten Power Five teams: Georgia, Michigan , Washington and Florida State . Oregon and Texas could be one-loss conference champions.
An Alabama win would likely move the Tide ahead of Georgia, but a Big 12 champion, one-loss Texas that beat the Tide in Tuscaloosa may be hard to leave out of the playoff.
Georgia center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger was asked what he thinks of the Bulldogs maybe needing a win against Alabama to get into the playoff now.
"That hasn't even crossed my mind yet, but I will say that there's a great deal of respect that we have for the teams we've played so far," Van Pran-Granger said
Georgia would have two wins against 10-2 teams: Missouri and Ole Miss .
"We ultimately appreciate the opportunity to go out there and compete against them but I think at this point now it's about maximizing the opportunities that we have and going forward trying to be the best version of ourselves," Van Pran-Granger said.
Alabama just avoided coming to Mercedes-Benz as a two-loss team until an improbable 31-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal beat Auburn 27-24 on the Plains.
Smart said Georgia was warming up on the field at Georgia Tech and somebody told him that Auburn had won because it was "fourth and whatever. I didn't think about it again until we were coming in somebody said they converted that. I never saw it. Just heard it."
Among playoff contenders, Georgia wasn't alone in slogging through a rivalry game win.
Florida State trailed Florida 15-14 before scoring 10 fourth quarter points in a 24-15 win. The Gators dropped to 5-7.
Washington's Apple Cup could have turned rotten, but the Huskies went to 12-0 after a 24-21 home win over Washington State, which also fell to 5-7.
"You see across the country in these rivalry games what happens," Smart said. "I know better than anybody than it can go either way in these type games. Very emotional, very different week."
Safety Javon Bullard isn't worried about what happens if Georgia takes its first L in two years.
"I'm not worried about slipping up," he said. "I'm worried about trying to beat Bama."
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Could Georgia football be denied three-peat chance with loss to Bama?
