NEW ORLEANS — The normally stoic Smael Mondon finally displayed some emotion. After four years, multiple injuries and pouring everything he could into the Georgia program, Mondon finally showed how he was feeling as he embraced Glenn Schumann in the locker room.

The ups and downs that followed a difficult 2024 season, not just for Mondon but many on the Georgia roster, culminated in a 23-10 defeat to Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff. Instead of cheers, there were tears for Georgia. Not just from a distraught Mondon, but the likes of Oscar Delp, Dylan Fairchild and others.

“Definitely not what you want in the end. That’s for certain,” sophomore linebacker CJ Allen told DawgNation after the game. “The things we’ve been through, the things this team’s been through, the stuff we overcame, we overcame a lot. I’m very super proud of this team. We overcame a lot. Just thinking about that, you know what I’m saying, to be proud of ourselves for that, the things we overcame this season.”

For the first time since the 2018 season, Georgia’s season ended with a loss. That ironically came in the Sugar Bowl, against Texas. The Longhorns were still in the Big 12 at that point time.

Players like Mondon and Chaz Chambliss had yet to sign with Georgia. Those seniors ended up becoming the winningest senior class in program history, going 53-5. They went 25-0 at home, winning two SEC championships and two national championships.

The Bulldogs were unable to get a third national title. Too many injuries. Too difficult a schedule. Not enough talent and not enough bounces of the football went their way this season.

Some may see this season as a failure. Those people obviously didn’t see the inside of the Georgia locker room following the loss to Notre Dame.

To see everything that this team went through and call them anything but successful would be insulting.

“Played the hardest schedule in the country. We’re SEC champions. Can’t take that away from us,” Delp said. “That’s just how it is. It’s going to be like that next year, too. It’s not like that one year. That’s how it’s going to be. Deal with it. We got to work in the offseason, get better, compete. A lot of crazy things happened this season. We can’t control anything. You got to do what you do.”

Georgia went on the road to Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss. It beat the Longhorns twice, as well as playoff participant Tennessee as well. It won an SEC championship with its starting quarterback exiting the game on the last play of the first half.

There were dismissals, arrests, suspensions and a number of self-inflicted incidents that kept this team from being one of the final four remaining. This team was far from perfect.

But in some ways, the beautiful mess that was the 2024 Georgia football season puts this team’s accomplishments in better perspective.

There was no Brock Bowers or Jalen Carter on this team. Sure there were talented players, such as Butkus Award winner Jalon Walker or two-time All-American Tate Ratledge, but there wasn’t a single player that elevated everyone else.

It was a band of brothers, coming together and fighting all the way to the end. Georgia had incredible comebacks against the likes of Texas and Georgia Tech. Even against Notre Dame when the Bulldogs gave up a 98-yard kickoff return to open the second half, they never rolled over. They continued to battle and were a redzone touchdown away from cutting the deficit to 6.

Georgia couldn’t make the plays when needed. But this team never stopped trying to make them.

“It’s going to teach us just to keep going,” freshman linebacker Chris Cole said.

Next year’s team is will look different. Given the rapid roster movements that occurs on college rosters now, many of the players in that locker room will play elsewhere. Some in the NFL, others at other schools.

The roster will flip, as the Bulldogs are likely to see double-digit players leave via the transfer portal and the NFL draft. Such is life when you’re as talented as Georgia was, even in what was admittedly a down season.

Still, it’s hard not to come away with how this Georgia team fought, all the way until the end.

“What they went through this year and what they played and how they played, the resiliency, the injuries that we’ve had, and to win an SEC championship — which I have so much respect for our conference,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “To win some of the comeback games they won and never quit, even in this game, never quit, that’s the attitude you’ve got to have to get better as a football program.”

Smart has been honest about this team. It was not his most talented. The ninth-year head coach has said as much. There were moments of frustration this season, some were due to forces out of Georgia’s control.

He knows the Georgia program has to get better. Smart has shown he’s the coach capable of doing so, as the Georgia program seemed a lot farther away from championships than it did the last time it saw its season end with a loss in New Orleans.

And he knows that the scars formed during this season will help make future Georgia teams better.

“Remember the taste in your mouth, you never want that feeling again,” Allen said. “When you’re a winner, you hate losing more than you like winning. So just taking that into consideration with the offseason program and just knowing what we have to do and the feeling that we have now, not want to fight that again. So just working hard in the summer and spring and so on.”

Former President Jimmy Carter may have only served one term as governor, but he left his mark in many ways before leaving for Washington, even literally.

With a pencil, Carter signed the desk in the governor’s ceremonial office, starting a tradition that has been continued by his successors.

Four of those governors who would go on to write their own signature on the desk – three of them Republicans – were among those who bundled up Saturday and stood outside the state Capitol as Carter’s motorcade made a brief and solemn ceremonial stop on its way to the Carter Presidential Center a few miles away.

“I think most of us felt like he had really fought for so long that there was a certain peace about that at that final moment in that regard,” Sonny Perdue, a former governor who is now chancellor of the University System of Georgia, told reporters Saturday.

“But I think we looked at the pictures of him at his wife’s funeral, and that wasn’t the President Carter that I knew and the humanitarian that lived after that,” Perdue said.

Carter, who was a Democrat, died last Sunday at the age of 100 after being in hospice care for nearly two years. Former first lady Rosalynn Carter died late in 2023.

The ceremonial stop at the state Capitol was part of the first of a six-day funeral procession that started Saturday in Americus and will culminate Thursday with services in Washington and finally back in Plains. Carter will lie in repose at the Carter Presidential Center until 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Wendy Shaw, who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, and her family were among the many out-of-towners who made their way to Atlanta this weekend for the former president’s funeral services. 

The family visited the state Capitol on Saturday morning and then proceeded to the Carter Presidential Center at night for Carter’s public visitation. The 56-year-old banker wanted to pay respect to her childhood hero. 

“He was someone who I admired because of what he stood for politically and for being someone who championed causes that benefited people who were the most in need,” Shaw said. 

For the most part, Saturday was a reflection of Carter’s humble beginnings in rural Georgia and his time under the Gold Dome in Atlanta, where he served as a state senator and governor before winning a long-shot bid for president in 1976.

Carter’s fingerprints can still be seen all over state government, including through the state’s education system – he laid the groundwork for the state’s technical and vocational education system as well as Georgia’s kindergarten and pre-K programs – and drastically restructured state government through a consolidation of agencies and boards.

“You might think about that as being like smaller government, but that wasn’t his goal,” said state Sen. Sally Harrell, an Atlanta Democrat who served alongside Carter-era lawmakers when she was in the state House.

“His goal was to have efficient government that served the people better. So that was always his goal is to have a government that is stronger for the people. That government still exists today,” she said. 

Harrell was among the dozens of state lawmakers who greeted Carter’s motorcade Saturday as it stopped in front of the state Capitol amid a bipartisan outpouring of tributes and reflections on Carter’s legacy.

“I think when people think about President Carter, they think about him being a compassionate, moral person, and I think that’s what people are craving now, is to have another leader like him,” Harrell said. 

Perdue argued the universal admiration seen in the last week says as much about the nation as it does Carter.

“I hope that says something about us as far as a country that’s willing to recognize a great person, a great leader in that regard, and pay due respect to one irrespective of what partisan activity or area they were in that regard, I feel that way,” Perdue said. “Obviously, I have great respect for what he did – not what party he belonged to, but what he created and did for mankind afterwards.”

Georgia Supreme Court Justice Charlie Bethel, a former GOP state senator who previously served alongside Carter’s grandson Jason Carter in the state Senate, said he felt sadness but also pride at the death of a man he tells his children is worthy of emulation.

“In our house, we don’t do a lot of ‘heroing,’ because human beings are flawed, but it’s nice to be able to point to somebody and say, if you want to live like another person, Jimmy Carter is one person it’s worth pursuing that as a goal,” Bethel said Saturday.

Georgia’s highest-ranking elected officials, who are all Republicans, were also at the state Capitol Saturday to honor Carter and to greet Jason Carter and Carter’s oldest son, Chip Carter.  

“There was a lot of love on the side of the road,” Chip Carter said during a private service at the Carter Presidential Center. “Every overpass had people on it. It was amazing and gave you goosebumps just to sit in the van and see the reaction of those people of Georgia.”

The public visitation started Saturday evening after the private service, which was attended by staff of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum and the Carter Center – the people Jason Carter called the “real keepers of my grandparents’ legacy.”

“We’ll have many chances this week to pay tribute to my grandfather, but it was important for all of us that we stop here,” Jason Carter said during Saturday’s service. “These buildings, as you all know, are filled with his life, not just because this is a museum to his life and not just because there’s a collection here of his beloved paintings, but his spirit fills this place. And the real reason that this spirit fills this place is because of the people who are standing here.” 

Georgia Recorder senior reporter Stanley Dunlap contributed to this report. 

Today at McCamish Pavillion, Georgia Tech is aiming to win their third game in a row, second straight ACC game, and get their fourth win in their last five games. It has not been a great start to the season for Damon Stoudamire’s team, but given the relative weakness of the ACC, they have a chance to string some wins together

Tech (7-7, 1-2 ACC) picked up its first ACC win Tuesday with an 86-75 homecourt triumph over Notre Dame, which followed a 92-49 romp over Alabama A&M last Saturday. The Yellow Jackets had dropped their first two conference games to North Carolina (68-65 on the road) and No. 5 Duke (82-56 at home). Tech is 7-4 at home this season.

Likewise, Boston College (9-5, 1-2 ACC) earned their first conference win this week, 78-68 decision over Miami Wednesday at home that followed a 72-66 loss at Wake Forest and a 103-77 homecourt defeat to SMU earlier in December. The loss to Wake Forest has been the Eagles’ only true road game to date.

Tech concludes a five-game homestand vs. Boston College on , during which all five of the home games will be played Saturday in which all five of the home games have come during the semester break without students on campus. The Jackets are 3-1 on this homestand after going 4-3 on its season-opening seven-game home stretch.

Boston College snapped a five-game losing streak in the series with a 95-87 win at McCamish Pavilion on Jan. 6, 2024, the most points the Eagles have scored against Tech in the series.

Tech leads the all-time series, 19-13 (one win vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions). The one scheduled meeting in 2020-21 in Atlanta was not played due to COVID-19.

The Jackets have shot better than 50 percent in three of their last five games (52.5% vs. UMBC). The last two games have been season highs (54.1% vs. Alabama A&M, 56.5% vs. Notre Dame). Tech posted a KenPom.com offensive efficiency rate of 133.8 against Notre Dame, the ninth-highest mark the Jackets have recorded since the website began tracking in the 1996-97 season. Tech’s defense inside the three-point arc has improved more than 100 spots nationally over last year. The current Yellow Jackets yield 45.1% within the arc, ranked No. 34 nationally by KenPom.com, compared to 49.5% in 2023-24 (137th).

Offensively, Tech has made major improvements in effective field goal percentage (50.6% ranked No. 180 over 48.7% ranked No. 260), turnover percentage (16.4% ranked 99th over 17.7% ranked No. 223), and free throw rate (32.9% ranked No. 183 over 29.2% ranked No. 282).

Javian McCollum has scored 39 points in his last 2 games after totaling 19 in his first 4 games back from his concussion injury. In those 2 games, McCollum has connected on 12-of-24 from the floor, 5-of-12 from three-point range and 10-of-10 from the foul line. He also has 8 assists and 4 steals.

Duncan Powell has scored in double figures 4 times this season, all vs. Power 4 opponents, 2 vs. ACC teams. He is averaging 12.3 ppg vs. ACC teams, 10.4 vs. P4 teams.

Baye Ndongo has scored in double digits in 11 of 14 games. He leads the Jackets and ranks No. 4 in the ACC in field goal percentage at 54.8%, and is shooting 60.7% percent in ACC games.

According to Fanduel Sportsbook, Georgia Tech is a 7.5 point favorite and the total is set at 146.5.

Here is how you can watch today’s game.

Saturday, January 4, 2025 | 12 p.m. EST | Atlanta, Ga. | McCamish Pavilion

Television: ESPNU (Announcers: Anish Shroff, Scott Williams)

Radio: Georgia Tech Sports Network by Legends Sports (In Atlanta: 680 AM/93.7 The Fan)

Announcers: Andy Demetra, Randy Waters

Being a 7.5 point favorite might seem a little excessive when you consider how unimpressive Georgia Tech has been at times on the basketball court this year, but Boston College is one of the weaker teams in the conference and the Yellow Jackets have more talent than they do. After getting up big in last year’s meeting and then blowing it, I think Georgia Tech will finish the job this time and get a convincing win at home before going on the road.

Final Score: Georgia Tech 82, Boston College 71 (Georgia Tech -7.5 and the over)

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