Kirby Smart reveals initial thoughts on facing Ohio State in College Football Playoff semifinal

The matchups are set for the College Football Playoff semifinals. After winning the SEC title game on Saturday night, the Georgia Bulldogs locked in the No. 1 seed and they learned Sunday that they’ll face the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta on Dec. 31.

“I’m excited,” Smart told Rece Davis on the ESPN selection show. “What a great program, what a great job Ryan’s done there. They’ve got a lot of really good players, we recruit a lot of the same kids. They’ve got a tremendous program. It’ll be a premier matchup which our guys love. When you make the Final Four, whether you’re one through four, it really doesn’t matter.

“What matters is how you handle this time building up to this game and the nature of the game. There’s a lot of build-up.”

Although the Bulldogs took care of business versus LSU, the reigning national title-winning head coach noted areas for improvement in the next few weeks.

“The message is always going to be consistent,” Smart said. “I was really proud of our guys… We’ve played really good complimentary football but we can’t play the defense we played last night and expect to be any kind of champions, semifinal or national.”

Undefeated Georgia is a seven-point favorite to win the CFP semifinal game versus Ohio State.

Smart, Bulldogs snatch SEC title

Georgia dominated the Tigers to win 50-30 in the conference title game, snapping a three-game losing streak in the SEC Championship to claim the league crown for the first time since 2017. Speaking postgame with CBS Sports’ Jenny Dell, Smart said this was a goal the team had in mind all season because of last year’s loss to Alabama.

“So proud of this group,” he said. “All they wanted to do — they kept talking about doing something last year’s group didn’t do. They had really good, physical practices this week and I’m so proud of the way they prepared for this game. So proud of this university, this fanbase to get an opportunity to come in this place and play in this game is just a great honor.”

Georgia struck first on a 95-yard touchdown return on a blocked field goal and never looked back. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 35-7 lead to start things out and led 35-10 at halftime following an LSU field goal to end the half.

Quarterback Stetson Bennett led the way to finish 23-of-29 passing for 274 yards and four touchdowns, all of which came in the first half. Smart had high praise for Bennett after the game.

“A drill a minute, man,” Smart said. “The guy is really good, he’s really athletic, he plays within our system and he makes everybody better around him. Nobody watches more tape and prepares more than he does.”

Georgia also finished with 255 yards rushing as a team along with two touchdowns from Kenny McIntosh. The defense also played a significant role, forcing three turnovers and coming away with four sacks.

On3’s Chandler Vessels contributed to this report.