Kirby Smart cannot believe that his season is over. After constructing yet another near-perfect regular season, the Georgia coach is still in disbelief over his team's loss to Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff Sugar Bowl.
Smart has handled many heartbreaking season-ending losses with Georgia, but few that caused him to react the way he did on Thursday night. The veteran head coach admitted he was “sick” that the Bulldogs' 2025 season is over immediately after the 39-34 stunner.
“I'm sick that we lost,” Smart said after the game, via UGA Football Live.
The game was a shootout, much like the teams' first meeting on Oct. 18. Ole Miss edged out the total yard battle 473 to 343 before watching junior kicker Lucas Carneiro nail the go-ahead field goal with six seconds remaining. Georgia would commit a safety on its desperation attempt on the ensuing kickoff to give the Rebels a five-point victory.
While Georgia erased a nine-point victory in its Oct. 18 win over Ole Miss, it was the Bulldogs' turn to blow a lead in the rematch. Smart's team entered halftime with a commanding 21-12 lead and all the momentum on its side, but was outscored 20-10 in the final quarter to watch the victory slip through its fingers.
Georgia won the SEC Championship Game to earn a first-round bye for the second consecutive season. However, the Bulldogs also suffered an immediate exit for the second straight year.
Smart is now 0-2 in his last two bowl games after embarking on a seven-game win streak from 2019 to 2022, which included a pair of national titles. Georgia has not claimed a College Football Playoff victory since the field expanded to 12 teams in the 2024 season.
