ATHENS — It’s time for a Georgia football reset.

Yes, this is the Georgia football program that has won 24 straight games and back-to-back national titles.

But no, this is not the Georgia team that won those two championships or 17 of those past 24 games while producing 25 NFL Draft picks.

These Bulldogs, 7-0 overall and 4-0 in the SEC East with a Oct. 28 showdown with Florida approaching have lost their Superman to an ankle injury that required surgery.

Fallen hero

First-ballot College Football Hall of Fame lock and statue-worthy tight end Brock Bowers has fallen, leaving the offense in desperate need of a pick-me up.

Coach Kirby Smart has built a program deep in talent and proven in development, but the “Next Man Up” crowd whistling past the graveyard is missing the point.

There is no substitute for Bowers, any more than Georgia has found any sort of replacements on defense that come close to equaling the likes of Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith.

The sky is not falling, but it is cloudy with a chance of severe storms ahead as the Bulldogs transition into a backloaded and particularly vicious SEC schedule.

Rocky road

When is the last time Georgia, or any other team, has finished its league slate against four teams that are quite likely still in control of their own CFP destiny?

Florida, Missouri, Ole Miss and Tennessee remain contenders, eager to find a place in the history books as the team that derailed this record-breaking Georgia program.

It’s doable, as evidenced by what played out last Saturday at Vanderbilt amid the SEC’s most wretched football setting with steel beams, cranes, dirt paths and chain link construction fencing all around.

These No. 1-ranked Bulldogs sputtered on offense, defense and special teams in the first 18 minutes of the game even before Bowers went down.

Smart has acknowledged Georgia having such issues, repeating each week the need for improvement.

The Bulldogs’ No. 1 ranking and notches in the win column have masked reality for those who only have time for highlight shows.

Consider this: Auburn, South Carolina and Vanderbilt are a combined 1-10 against the rest of the conference — and yet, each led by at least a touchdown over Georgia.

Smart saw no point in turning his postgame press conference at Vanderbilt last Saturday into a gripe session, as poorly as his team played at times.

“I’m really proud of our players being resilient and fighting through some turnovers, some adversity, some sloppy play, some injuries,” Smart said.

“But at the end of the day, they responded and they got up to play on the road in the SEC, so I’m proud of them for that.”

Appreciate the moment

SEC legend Tim Tebow shared how he wished Florida would have celebrated its wins more during the historic 22-game win streak he led in 2008-09.

Tebow, like Bowers, was once thought physically indestructible — until he wasn’t, getting knocked out of a game at Kentucky.

Bowers, unlike Tebow, won’t have the opportunity to bounce back one week later and perhaps not even for the remainder of the season, depending on when doctors clear him to play.

Georgia must get better fast, another message Smart has delivered this season, as the momentum in the league has shifted.

“I feel great about the bye week, (and) I’m glad it’s here,” Smart said. “We’ll try to get better. People don’t understand what a bye week really is. I mean, it’s an opportunity-for-growth week for me. It’s not a bye week.

“I don’t look at it as time off. We’ve got some players that need it, and we’re a banged-up football team.”

Focus on football

It’s a team that needs a reset: In the football building, in the locker room, on the practice field and on game days.

The NIL deals, paid shows and mid-week autograph signings are nice for the UGA players, and they are now an acceptable part of college football.

But those things weren’t a part of the 2021 and 2022 teams, and they aren’t helping this Georgia team to get better.

In the Vanderbilt game alone, the 15,000 or so UGA fans who drove to Nashville watched Georgia fumble, muff a punt, botch a snap, blow defensive assignments, drop passes, miss tackles and make errant throws.

The Bulldogs defensive coaching staff, arguably the best in college football, were schemed up for 75-yard scoring drives at the start of the game and Commodores’ first possession of the second half.

By Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt!

Championship hopes

Big picture, Georgia’s championships are flickering, cast very much in doubt when Bowers crumpled to the turf on that gloomy Nashville afternoon under the so-called “Ring of Fire” eclipse.

The Bulldogs might not have reached the past two college football playoffs without Bowers’ regular-season contributions, and now Smart must challenge the coaches and players on this team — this 2023 version of Georgia football — to find a way to do just that.

“I tell the guys all the time, there’s 22, 44 players (that are) twos and threes that we’ve got to get every single rep we can for them so they’re prepared for this stretch run of five games,” Smart said.

“Guys, it’s going to be physical and tough. We may or may not be playing with a full deck.”

Indeed, and now Georgia must find a way to trump the competition without the best offensive player to wear Silver Britches since the incomparable Herschel Walker.

One-game seasons

“For us, we have 12 games, maybe 13, and every week is a season,” Smart explained last Saturday. “We just finished a season. It was a long week and it was a season.

“Guess what? We’re going to have another two-week season now. Then we’ll have a one-week season, a one-week season. We want to win every season we can, that’s the goal.”

Georgia has had an incredible run, 24 consecutive victories, 23 in a row at home, and another 23 straight against SEC teams.

Many of the stars and heroes of the 2021 and 2022 teams that were willing to eat off the floor and keep the main thing the main thing won’t be coming out of the tunnel in Jacksonville.

It’s up to this 2023 team to show the resiliency and focus needed to keep the streak going and write their own script into the history books.

It will be the continuation -- or the end -- of the longest winning streak in Georgia football history