Sky? Falling. Dreams? Shattered. Reality? * Crickets* Nope, it wasn't Bobo.

            Georgia lost – and Georgia is never supposed to lose – and the ledges filled up.

            Listen for the wailing on the horizon.

            And yet again, people are all over Mike Bobo.

            It’s almost gauche to not jump on Bobo when Georgia loses, no matter the circumstances, because people think they grasp offense from what some windbag on TV says or anonymously behind a keyboard.

            They don’t.

            Sports and politics go together: tell me what I agree with, and without considering anything else, I will further the argument no matter how illogical or knee-jerk. Where’s the door to the in-one-direction blinders bandwagon?

            Thinking and exploring take too much effort.

            Two things: I've never been enamored with Mark Richt's general offensive philosophy. Mark Richt is Mike Bobo's boss. One day, folks will actually take that thought seriously.

            Second, I fail to see why people went crazyinlove with the latest defensive coordinator who worked for Saban. This one doesn't have much experience, by any stretch of the imagination, and one isn't brilliant simply by working with somebody. He inherited a top 10 defense in a weak conference and ended up with a Heisman winner leading the offense. He did a superb job of not screwing it up. Time for a raise? That said, yes, he is definitely a step up. But he's not Erk. So stop it.

            So we go to Georgia's final possession in the fourth quarter.

            After, of course, the Georgia’s first interception of the game, on Dylan Thompson’s 30^th pass.

            After, of course, a holding call on a Todd Gurley big touchdown run as well as another 27-yard gain, killing 81 yards.

            After, of course, a missed field goal.

            After, of course, South Carolina scored 38 points on Georgia’s defense without the aid of a Georgia offense or special teams turnover, and thus, a short field.

           Now, upon further review, everybody’s bellyaching about NEG - Not Enough Gurley – on that late possession.

            The reality is it's not that easy, and it wasn't that bad.

            First down playcall is not a bad playcall, a pick play. Watch it again, while remembering your quarterback completed 73 percent of his passes and Georgia’s general success with playaction.

            Note that Quayvon Hicks, the intended receiver, was fairly open, the sign of a play that has a chance to work. He probably wouldn’ have scored – he ran along the line of scrimmage, but it’s not a loss.

            The short of it is that Mason felt the pressure and made a felt-the-pressure play. Granted, it seems like Mason could’ve scrambled and dodged the rusher to extend the play.

            Next play, Gurley got three. Next play, a pass tipped at the line.

            That third down pass decision wasn’t good, because yeah, Gurley was open curling to the middle out of the backfield.

            An aside: Me, I expect UGA to put Gurley in the slot a little bit, because he’s such a magnet. Yes, you use your best weapon as a decoy every so often because defenses know who your best weapon is and will focus on him.

            Football 101.

            Nevertheless, the firestorm that followed - delirious and hysterical Facebook posts and message boards leading the way - led me to believe one thing, when it wasn't that way.

            But, man oh man, there is the requisite ignoring of logic, the big picture, and reality. The truth is almost always inconvenient, and it is again.

            1. Georgia scored 35 points. That’s a lot. Should be enough to win.

            2. Georgia’s offense didn’t turn the ball over, so South Carolina scored no points off of UGA turnovers, and didn’t get a short field because of UGA turnovers. USCE scored all its points off of UGA’s defense, pure and simple.

            Not Bobo’s fault.

            3. USCE had four touchdown drives of at least 75 yards, all of at least 9 plays. That’s gutting, flat out gutting a defense. More than once. About once a quarter.

            Not Bobo’s fault.

            4. Georgia was a mighty solid 5 of 6 in red zone offense. Yeah, that one was huge, and a team effort of a rookie QB, interesting strategy, and a missed PAT of a field goal.

            Partially Bobo’s fault, as well as Huston Mason and who up front missed something.

            5. USCE got 27 first downs. More than two dozen, and only one by penalty. Half by run, half by pass. UGA had 18, 9 by rush and 8 by pass. Both balanced, but one defense did better.

            Not Bobo’s fault.

            6. When your quarterback is en route to a 72.7-percent completion day and no interceptions on the road against an upper-level SEC defense, yes, there is great logic to considering a pass in the red zone, especially when considering that yeah, if the average dingbat on the couch or 83^rd row says “Run Gurley,” a defense is fairly prepared to stop Gurley.

            So when you get the predictability you want and it fails?

            And three runs up the middle that don’t score then lead – and it’s money – to the wailing of “you can’t run him ALL the time, they’re expecting that.” That’s a prediction as easy as calling the sunrise.

            7. Gurley ended up with 20 carries for 131 yards, an average of 6.6 yards a carry. No, there’s no fear in running Gurley, but yes, for the love of God, you can run somebody too much.

            8. Everybody thinks it’s just about the running back. No no no no, it’s always about the offensive line, and there’s a consideration of how well a line has played or is playing, and late in a game, does the defense have more juice than the offense?

            Can you be extremely predictable - so simple, a fan can figure it out - and win that battle?

            Consider how well-rested USCE’s defense was because Georgia’s couldn’t get off the field. You bring eight to be blocked by six?   Do the math. And note on Saturday and Sunday how often defense wins those battles.

            Not Bobo’s fault.

            9. Missed field goals are missed field goals.

            Perhaps there was a stall on offense. Perhaps the defense just won that particular battle. But miss a 44- and 28-yarder?

            Not Bobo’s fault.

            10. Special teams otherwise didn’t do much. Both teams punted twice, only one return.  Kickoff returns? Well, Georgia returned two for 21 yards, USCE three for 86, one a 42-yarder. And that came in the fourth quarter and led to the winning touchdown, on a four-play, 58-yard drive.

            Not Bobo’s fault.

            11. South Carolina took over with 4:24 left in the game, on its own 20. Georgia’s defense couldn’t get the ball back. More than four minutes, game on the line, USCE ran nine plays and gained 25 yards and covered four minutes.

            Period.

            That’s not the offense’s fault.

            12. The Fourth Down:. The ball must pass the final chain link, and it did. Watch the replay – OK, don’t, but you should – and you’ll see that most likely Dylan Thompson got the first down by more than the measurement or spot.

            The ball was pretty clearly past the 50 when he was pulled back.

            Sorry.

            Woulda been reeeeeal interesting if UGA got the ball back at the 50 with 1:22 left, while noting the two missed field goals.

            So the narrow-minded who will put it all on the one little aspect that they think they know so much about might could try something really different and expand horizons and look at other areas.

            And look at the chances before and after that one possession. Be unhappy with that possession, yes. No argument. They didn't score. Execution on two plays in particular was subpar, and the plays had potential.

            Be unhappier with what led to so much focus on that one possession.

            Georgia lost because of defense. Pure and simple.

            Really, simple. Yes, simple.