Kirby Smart reveals benefit of familiarity with Mercedes-Benz Stadium

Georgia will have an uncommon advantage when they play their CFP semifinal this weekend in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl. Beyond being the No. 1 seed, the Bulldogs will also be playing in front of what will be nearly a home crowd in a building they’ll be playing in for the third time this season in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

With that said, Kirby Smart says it’s not as much of an advantage as you may think. During his press conference on Monday, he said there’s not much difference beyond him, his staff, and his players having a better feel of where important things like the play clock are on the field.

“Probably that (we) know where the scoreboards, the clocks, and all the different stuff is. That’s the biggest thing,” said Smart. “The field is the same. There’s not a lot of difference in terms of the diameter and the width of the field. But I think it’s more about the familiarity for the quarterback. Knowing the play clock, the ribbons, and the different things.”

Georgia has been dominant in their two appearances in Atlanta so far this season. They opened the year there with a 49-3 victory over Oregon. Then they won the SEC Championship in the same venue as they defeated LSU 50-30 in their most recent outing.

Still, Smart isn’t placing much value on that perceived advantage. In fact, since Ohio State will also get the opportunity to practice inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium this week, Smart believes the advantage he thinks they would have had going in will actually be null and void come kickoff.

The biggest difference is both teams are getting to practice in there. So they’ll be familiar with it (too) by the time the game starts,” Smart said.

We’ll see how much of a difference this actually makes come kickoff on New Year’s Eve in Atlanta. However, considering they’re 2-0 in that building this year by an average of 33 points per game, it certainly won’t hurt Georgia’s chances during the first official step of their title defense.