This is not how Georgia's terrific 2018 season was supposed to end, bowing out to Texas in the Sugar Bowl as a double-digit favorite.

After all, this was college football's third-best team, an elite that was shafted by the Playoff committee on the final weekend and left out of the final four following a loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game.

What happened from that tough setback in Atlanta to Tuesday's deflating loss in New Orleans?

Georgia great Tim Worley, who rushed for 2,038 yards and 27 touchdowns during his career, penned an open letter to Bulldog Nation this week, summarizing what much of the fanbase feels after a disappointing finale. Worley touches on his right to comment since he played the game, Deandre Baker's decision to skip the postseason, Georgia's arrogance leading up to kickoff and social media distractions.

From Worley's letter:

Do your job… You know what else I did? I played in our bowl game when I knew I was declaring for the NFL Draft as a junior. In fact, when I played in the 1989 Gator Bowl against Michigan State – my last game as a Georgia Bulldog – guess who else played in that same game, and declared for the draft days later?First round and the second overall pick, offensive lineman Tony Mandarich and first-round, twenty-second overall pick, Andre Rison (who, by the way, was the Spartans’ MVP with nine receptions for 252 yards.) Don’t @ me about their NFL careers. That’s not the point. The point is, the bowl game I played in had three first-round picks in it. And we didn’t just play in the game. We. Went. At. It. Along with my backfield mate, Rodney Hampton (who was a first-round pick the following year), we flat out battled in that game. And, UGA won by a score of 34-27 in front of 76,000 people. Why? Because we were supposed to play. Because our universities expected us to play. Because our scholarships required us to play. Because we gave our word to our families and to ourselves that, every time we were on the field, we were going to leave everything on it. And equally as importantly as all of those reasons, because our teammates depended on us to play, and we were not going to abandon our brothers.

Worley took exception to Kirby Smart saying after the game that he "hopes" the Bulldogs take the Sugar Bowl loss as a lesson in preparation and showing up to play every game.

Worley didn't appreciate Georgia's pre-game war of words on Twitter:

With all due respect, Coach, “hope” isn’t gonna get it done. You can’t “hope” they get it. You have to make them get it. That only happens with a no-exceptions culture that is either bought into, or players play somewhere else. You’ve seen it done. As Alabama’s defensive coordinator, you have championship rings proving it can be done….with this generation of athletes. I mean no disrespect, but later for all that “hope” stuff, bruh. I’m not a journalist. I’m a ticked-off member of “Running Back U, and the issue that concerns me is entitled apathy. UGA’s players (and possibly its coaches?) clearly didn’t want to be at the New Orleans last night, and it’s not because they don’t like gumbo. I’m a North Carolina native – and a country boy – so I’m going to say what happened the way we say it in Lumberton: they “threw their suckers in the dirt.” I’m not going to single anyone out, but UGA players were blowing Twitter up during the Clemson-Notre Dame game, lamenting the Playoff Committee’s faulty decision making in choosing the four best teams for the Playoff. And they didn’t hold back. They were brash. Arrogant. Haughty. Loud. And, based on last night’s lackluster performance, UGA players’ bodies were at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, but their minds were out west in Levi’s Stadium…where they will not be playing, because a team that beat them will be. UGA showed everyone watching (including NFL scouts) that, if they weren’t playing in the Playoff, then they weren’t playing at all.

Likely beginning the 2019 season somewhere inside the Top 10, it'll be interesting to see where the Bulldogs go from here during Smart's fourth season with one of the most talented collective rosters in college football. Coming off consecutive SEC East title, Georgia will again be the division's overwhelming frontrunner to reach Atlanta and perceived as the league's second-best overall behind Alabama.