Kirby Smart gives surprising answer when asked if Georgia's defensive performance was elite

Kirby Smart boasts the top defense in all of college football and his unit put together yet another stifiling performance on Saturday.

The Georgia defense held Florida to just seven points and forced three turnovers in the 34-7 victory for Smart and company.

After the game, Smart was asked if he considered Saturday’s outing as an elite performance from his defense.

The Georgia front man answered emphatically, and his response may surprise some.

“No, absolutely not”, Smart said without hesitation

Kirby Smart clearly holds his unit to a higher standard.

“Now, if you say turnovers and you want to categorize turnovers as elite, yes, that was elite if you’re just trying to talk turnovers, but we are trying to play total defense, ” the Georgia head coach added.

“We went forward in the turnover category, but we went backwards in the rush, pass and other categories.

But at the end of the day, did they get in your end zone? When you hold a team under 13 points? I think that’s elite. But there was not a total elite standard defense.

Kirby Smart on the meaning of Florida win

The No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs stuck around to celebrate with their fans after the final whistle, and it was clear this one meant a little more for Smart’s team.

Smart was asked about the emotional celebration in Jacksonville, and why the Bulldogs were so elated to have picked up the win against the Gators, to which he gave a simple response — “if you can’t enjoy these moments, why do we do them?”

“Well, you put so much into the game, you know?” Smart continued in Georgia’s postgame press conference. “If I can’t embrace my family and hug them and love it and see the fans that stuck around for it, that’s what it’s all about to me. I had a coach a long time ago tell me that if you can’t enjoy those moments, then why are you in the business?”

Kirby Smart continued to rave about his players and put the focus on his team.

“And the players — they work hard, guys,” Smart said when asked of Georgia’s celebration. “They practice so many times a week for this one game, and I want them to be able to enjoy it. I want them to see the emotion of it. It doesn’t matter to me that it’s Florida, it matters to me that it was our team, and they won. You take that for granted sometimes. I think people look at it and say, ‘Oh, well Georgia is going to win this, Georgia is going to win that.’ Nothing is taken for granted. You can’t. You’ve got to go out and practice, and when you do well and you perform well, you should celebrate with the players so they can see that side of you.”

Georgia is one step closer to pulling off a special season.