the 2012 Peach Bowl and take down LSU. That's why all games are important and it became the spring board for things to come. If you don't want to be there, you'll never get to and stay at the top.
I’m pretty sure Clemson did not want to be at that game. If they had wanted to be there, it would have never been that close! It sure made for an entertaining game though.
I do think the current level of your program matters a large amount in these games. We were a program on the rise at that time, people were doubting that we could beat the elite teams, that we could become an elite program, and LSU had played for a NC the year before.
For the record, I'm not buying into any excuse for Georgia last night because I think Texas came out on fire last night, Georgia made some mistakes including two on special teams, got themselves into a big hole, and then the rest was history.