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Kirby Smart reveals his message to the team ahead of the SEC Championship

Chandler Vesselsby:Chandler Vessels•12/03/22•

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Kirby Smart

Georgia coach Kirby Smart knows what this SEC Championship opportunity means to the Bulldogs. After losing in the conference title game last season to Alabama, Georgia has a chance to stake its claim as the SEC champion for the first time since 2017 on Saturday against LSU.

As Smart and the Bulldogs prepared to kick off against the Tigers, the coach spoke with CBS Sports’ Jenny Dell about the message he sent to his team ahead of the big matchup.

“Enjoy the moment,” Smart said. “They’ve earned the right to be here. We want to have a connected assault. We want to be real physically aggressive and come out and attack. That’s what I want our guys to do.”

Georgia enters this game undefeated and as the defending national champion from last season. They were also favored by 17 points as they hope to avenge their loss in the title game from last year.

In spite of this, history is not on the Bulldogs’ side. They have lost three consecutive SEC title games, including once to LSU during the 2019 season. For that reason, even with its College Football Playoff spot already secured, this SEC Championship game means a little bit more to Kirby Smart and Georgia.

Todd Monken has hilarious double reaction to Georgia special teams touchdown

As Georgia returned a blocked field goal for a touchdown to strike first in the SEC Championship Game, not even Bulldogs offensive coordinator Todd Monken could keep up with what was unfolding on the field.

LSU lined up for a 32-yard field goal on their second drive of the game, but a Georgia defender got a hand on it. As the LSU field goal unit started to wander toward the sideline and examine where the ball went, the Georgia field goal block unit ran to the ball and eventually defensive back Christopher Smith picked it up and returned it to the house for a touchdown.

As Smith picked up the ball, the CBS broadcast caught Monken waving his hands in the booth as if in disagreement, only to hilariously change his tune moments later when he saw Smith racing toward the end zone.

The good news for LSU is on the ensuing drive, quarterback Jayden Daniels connected with star wideout Kayshon Boutte to tie the score, 7-7. However, there wouldn’t be much to cheer about from that moment on.

The blocked field goal touchdown would only be the beginning of the first half scoring for Todd Monken and Georgia. The Bulldogs went on to further pile it on with four touchdown passes from quarterback Stetson Bennett and held a 35-10 lead at halftime.