Kirby Smart addresses balance on defense between reacting, preparation after last Georgia loss

Entering the SEC Championship game against Alabama, Georgia hadn’t given up more than 17 points in a single game this season. That changed in Atlanta, as Alabama scored 41 points to take the SEC crown by a 41-24 score. In preparing for Michigan and the College Football Playoff, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said that the team is trying to be very honest and self-aware when evaluating what went wrong on defense.

“The biggest thing is we’re always technical with our players,” Smart said. “We’re very truthful and honest and if you sat in our meetings, you would know that a lot of the game that people might say that we dominated or held guys to lower points, we didn’t play real well. So we don’t do it any different based on the outcome. We do it based on how we execute, how we perform. Not just on statistics. We’ve kind of talked to our defense about that.”

The loss was Georgia’s first of the season. In the CFP semifinal against Michigan, Smart and Georgia’s defense faces an offense that is scoring 37.7 points per game and averaging 451.9 total yards.

“We’re very technical and honest,” Smart continued. “What can we do better? How can we improve? And then how do we take away what the opponent does? And Michigan does a tremendous job. They’re very multiple, they have a lot of personnel groupings. They’re extremely physical and they’re committed to being physical. They can play in space. They’ve got real good athletes. We know that they’ve got a tremendous team. Their offensive coordinator was at Alabama. He’s done a great job.

“So the challenge is there and we’ve worked really hard to really work on us fundamentally. Self-scout. What have we given up? What are people seeing on us, what changes can we make that would be beneficial for us? That’s really been our focus, is how do we get better fundamentally. Not about the last game.”

CFP will be final games of Dan Lanning’s tenure as Georgia’s DC

Smart has done a tremendous job this season leading Georgia, and the Bulldogs’ dominated on defense for the entire season. The man behind that defense is Dan Lanning. Lanning, who has been hired as Oregon’s next head coach, won’t be leaving Georgia until after the CFP is over. He said that decision was never a debate.

“Ultimately, it was never a decision,” stated Lanning. “I wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for our players. It would be totally unfair to our guys if I left with this opportunity. Didn’t finish what we started here. I’m grateful that Coach Smart would let me come back and help, but certainly have some unfinished business.”

Georgia and Michigan will face off in the Orange Bowl at 7:30 p.m. ET on New Year’s Eve.