Kirby Smart: Georgia is 'hungrier' this year after missing College Football Playoff

Kirby Smart believes Georgia football will enter 2024 with a chip on its shoulder after missing the College Football Playoff this past season. Throughout spring practice, he’s already sensed the Bulldogs playing “hungrier” than they had the previous two years when they won national titles.

Smart joined The Paul Finebaum Show on Monday to discuss the upcoming season when he noted that difference in his current group. He sees that as being an extra source of motivation the team can lean on as they aim to get back to the top.

“I think it’s different every year,” he said. “You have a different team. I’m trying to figure out exactly what this team needs. This team has been a little hungrier in spring ball because they didn’t win it. They weren’t in the Playoffs. So there’s a little more motivation there.”

Georgia was coming off of back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022 and made it through the regular season last year undefeated. The Bulldogs entered the SEC Championship against Alabama riding an SEC record 29-game winning streak and the favorite to win a third straight national title.

However, when Georgia lost 27-24, it dropped from No. 1 down to No. 6 in the final College Football Playoff rankings while the Crimson Tide claimed the final spot.

Smart told Finebaum he is “long past” the results from last year. He added that while the he’ll always look back on how things could have gone differently, his current focus is on making sure the team is as prepared as possible to compete for another result this season.

“I was really proud of the way we finished the season in the bowl game playing it out,” Smart said. “That’s part of football. That’s the storyline is you can win all these games consecutively, but if you don’t win the championship and you don’t advance, you look back and say, ‘What could we have done better?’ We’ll always look back on that, but right now we’re not doing that.

“We’re looking forward to what’s this team gonna do and how’s this team gonna play? We’ve got a really tough schedule and I’m excited to go out there and play.”

It’s still been an incredible stretch for Georgia over the past three seasons, where they’ve gone a combined 42-2 with those two national championships. Smart knows he has set a new standard for the program as a result, and titles are now the expectation.

However, he wants both his coaches and players to remember to enjoy the winning, something his previous coaching experiences have taught him.

“We’ve come to have an expectation of excellence,” Smart said. “There’s a standard now of ‘You’re supposed to win every game.’ I watched that happen at Alabama where it was like, if you’re not careful, you find no joy in winning. When you suck the joy out of winning, it makes your career shorter and it makes it frustrating for the players.

“So we still celebrate every win because in the SEC, playing on the road is really hard. So when we win games, we get excited about it. We find joy in it. I’ve enjoyed that ride.”