Kirby Smart considers why Georgia has been dominant at home

The Georgia Bulldogs play between the hedges at Sanford Stadium, one of college football’s iconic venues. Since head coach Kirby Smart took over, the Bulldogs have been a dominant force at home too, making it one of the most intimidating road trips for opponents to make.

Smart thought about what goes into that home field advantage, noting that it’s an effort that the entire team doesn’t take for granted.

“I think it’s a collective effort, right,” Kirby Smart said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, we all chip in on this.’ We practice hard. We beat the hell out of each other out there at practice, and we want to put a good product on the field.”

The last time that Georgia lost a home game was against South Carolina in 2019. Since then, Georgia has won two national championships and an SEC Championship. Since that last home loss, Georgia has won 23 straight home games.

“We want to defend our turf. We feel like championship teams at Georgia have not lost at home. So, you better not lose at home if you want to be a championship program. We have a wall that kind of says that. You better not lose at home if you want to do something special,” Smart said.

“The atmosphere has helped with that, but sometimes teams come in and play well. You have to rise to the occasion to play against them.”

Georgia has two more home games this season, both of which are against currently ranked opponents. So, that long home winning streak might soon be tested.

Paul Finebaum expects to learn a lot about Georgia over final stretch of regular season

Georgia hasn’t been overly challenged to this point in the season, only playing one team, Kentucky, that was ranked when they met. However, the Bulldogs are now looking at a stretch of games against ranked opponents that Paul Finebaum says will teach everyone a lot about the 2023 Bulldogs.

“Not to just add one more to the pie but assuming they survive that then they go to Knoxville, which I don’t know what to make out of that game. Because Tennessee still has to deal with Missouri and a few other folks … there’s something eerie about late November in Knoxville, assuming you’re trying to get yourself to Atlanta, which they probably will have already punched their ticket by then,” Finebaum said.

“But yeah, so Missouri is a mystery. I mean, I have friends in the industry, analysts who say Missouri is not that great. I happen to think they’re good. I’m impressed with what Eli Drinkwitz is doing but so far. They have a nice win against Kentucky. In Lexington. I think a lot of people will have wins against Kentucky in Lexington by the end of this year. And they beat Kansas State on a 61-yard field goal.”