For the first time since 2020, Georgia lost a soccer game against a team that was not 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 room for error if it wants to make the College Football Playoffs.

But not everyone on the UGA roster seemed to have taken the loss seriously. After the game, safety Jake Pope was seen apparently celebrating with Ole Miss fans. Coach Kirby Smart addressed the incident in his Monday press conference and didn’t mince words.

“What an idiot. I mean, just stupid,” Smart said. “I didn’t see him until today, but he’s embarrassed. He’s upset about it. He’s obviously a childhood friend of his that he grew up with and played with there in Buford and he knows him, he hasn’t seen him in a long time, but he’s just not very 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.”

The Pope turned to social networks to issue a statement in which he apologized for his actions and explained that the people in the video were old family friends who he was surprised to see. He added that they were wearing Ole Miss jerseys to support another old friend who plays for the Rebels.

“This is not representative of who I am in any way,” Pope said in the statement. “There is no way I would celebrate a loss on this show and anyone who knows me well knows that. My old family friends unexpectedly approached me after the game as I was trying to get off the field to safety and were very excited to see me after the game. I was also surprised to see them and that’s why you saw the reaction I gave through the video.

“Lastly, and once again, I am sorry to my teammates, coaches and fans for the way that video looked, and I choose to move forward and prepare for a great rest of the season with my brothers.”

Originally from Buford, Georgia, and 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 statistic.