I don’t give as much props or attention to the fine sports institutions of Atlanta as I arguably should, considering I spent a few years in the employ of Ted Turner and have a number of good friends and relatives who live within its perimeters. Yesterday a goodly number of their institutions were in action, and none of them were the Braves, so I was definitely paying attention. Unfortunately, from this vantage point this was the wrong week to do so, as none of my desired results came to pass.
I was rooting for the most successful one in the bunch, the two-time defending NCAA football champion Georgia Bulldogs, who were on the road in Oxford, Mississippi for a crucial matchup with the upstart Rebels of Ole Miss. But as Paul Myerberg of USA TODAY reported late yesterday, all that could have gone wrong indeed did:
Playing for the SEC championship, winning the SEC, even reaching the College Football Playoff: Nothing is certain for No. 2 Georgia after losing 28-10 to No. 12 Mississippi.
Now with two losses in SEC play, the Bulldogs will need help elsewhere in the conference to finish in the top two. While possible, focus should instead shift to securing one of the league’s at-large bids. But after another flat Saturday in a season littered with less-than-impressive performances, Georgia can’t be seen as a sure thing to win out the rest of November given matchups with No. 6 Tennessee and rival Georgia Tech. Remarkably, the defeat snaps the Bulldogs’ 52-game winning streak against teams other than Alabama.
Said rival was hosting one of my true faves in an ACC battle, where once again they were victimized by a statistically inferior foe. Per CBS SPORTS’ Shehan Jeyarajah:
Georgia Tech shocked No. 4 Miami 28-23 to reach bowl eligibility and shake up the ACC Championship Game race. The loss is the first of the season for the Hurricanes and drops them out of first place in the ACC standings.
The Yellow Jackets largely abandoned the forward pass and leaned on its highly-touted offensive line to bulldoze a struggling Miami defense. Georgia Tech ran the ball 48 times for 271 yards and two touchdowns and held the ball for 35 minutes to keep Miami’s highly-rated offense off the field.
While the loss was a disappointment for Miami, it wasn’t necessarily a fatal one, as Jeyarajah continued:
Miami’s loss to Georgia Tech does not eliminate the Hurricanes from College Football Playoff contention,” CBS Sports bowls expert Jerry Palm said. “Miami will almost certainly earn a CFP bid if it finishes 11-1, but the loss means it may not get to play for the ACC championship and secure the potential first-round bye that would come with a conference title win.”
But for another Miami team playing a different kind of football, even with home field advantage, an upstart from Atlanta did indeed put an abrupt end to their season. The ASSOCIATED PRESS’ Tim Reynolds was on hand:
Lionel Messi walked off the field and into the tunnel leading to the Inter Miami locker room a few seconds after the final whistle blew, hardly any emotion on his face.
He didn’t want to see the celebration.
Atlanta United ousted Messi and Major League Soccer’s biggest-spending team earlier than anyone imagined from the MLS Cup playoffs. Jamal Thiaré scored twice, Bartosz Slisz’s header in the 76th minute was the winner, and Atlanta United stunned Inter Miami 3-2 on Saturday night to win their best-of-three first round playoff series in three games.
Two free kicks by Messi in the final minutes hit the wall of Atlanta defenders, and time eventually ran out on soccer’s most decorated player and his team. Messi’s header — yes, header — in the 65th minute tied the match at 2-2, but the hosts never reclaimed the lead. Atlanta took the lead with an Inter Miami player down and the hosts lobbying for play to be halted, but the whistle never came and Slisz became one of many heroes for the winners.
I happen to know a couple of impassioned Atlanta United supporters with season tickets that are nothing short of ecstatic. United was the conference’s #9 seed and the weakest team in the expanded MLS playoff circle, needing a shootout win over Montreal to even advance after finishing their regular season at a .441 winning percentage clip. Not only was this conquest completely unexpected to Inter’s fan base, it was even more so to the management of Apple TV+, who have ridden the coattails of Messi to increased subscriptions and (reportedly) record viewership. Without him moving forward, and now facing a two-week hiatus for international contests right in the middle of the post-season, it’s highly doubtful the level of month-to-month or incremental subscribers they may have projected will show up.
Miami fans have plenty of distractions to occupy their time. Georgia, well, you Bulldog fans are more than welcome to join my friends’ bandwagon.
Courage…