For the first time since 2020, Georgia lost a football game against a team that wasn’t Alabama on Saturday.
The Bulldogs were dominated in a 28-10 road loss to Ole Miss. Now with two losses on the season, the preseason No. 1 team may no longer have a margin for error if it wishes to reach the College Football Playoff.
But not everyone on the UGA roster seemed to have taken the loss hard. After the game, safety Jake Pope was spotted seemingly celebrating with Ole Miss fans. Coach Kirby Smart addressed the incident at his Monday press conference, and he didn’t mince words.
“What an idiot. I mean, just stupid,” Smart said. “I didn’t see it until today, but he’s embarrassed about it. He’s upset about it. That’s obviously a childhood friend of his that he grew up and played with there at Buford and he knows him, hadn’t seen him in forever, but just not real smart. To be honest with you, I don’t have time to waste energy on that. My focus is on Tennessee. I’m not worried about that.”
Pope took to social media to release a statement in which he apologized for his actions and explained that the people in the video were longtime family friends who he was surprised to see. He added that they were wearing Ole Miss jerseys to support another longtime friend who plays for the Rebels.
“This is not representative of who I am in any way,” Pope said in the statement. “In no way, shape or form would I ever celebrate a loss in this program and anyone who knows me well knows that. My long-time family friends had come up to me unexpectedly after the game as I was trying to get off the field to safety and were extremely excited to see me after the game. I was also surprised to see them as well and that’s why you saw the reaction that I gave via the video.
“Lastly, and once again, I’m sorry to my teammates, coaches, and fans all around about the way that video looked, and I choose to move forward and get ready for a great rest of the season with my brothers.”
A native of Buford, Georgia, and a transfer from Alabama, Pope is a redshirt sophomore. He was a special teams contributor for the Crimson Tide last season but has appeared in just three games this fall without recording a stat.