Kirby Smart shares locker room message after win streak ends

The entire football world shared their heartbreak and sadness to see an undefeated ACC Champion Florida State team get snubbed from the College Football Playoff. Nobody felt bad for Georgia, however, who was the second team out after losing to Alabama in the SEC Championship game.

At the same time, those inside the Bulldogs were devastated when they came up short in the conference title game. It was head coach Kirby Smart’s job to keep his players heads up in the face of defeat — something most of his players have never had to go through since they’ve been on campus. Smart revealed what he told his guys directly after the loss.

“I love ’em. I mean, I love ’em,” Smart said. “Guys in there, two classes of guys in that room that have not lost a game. You’re looking at, I don’t know, 10, 15 NFL players who lose it feels like every other week. There’s two classes of our kids that have not lost a game.

“They’re resilient, they’re fighters. In life a lot of times you really can’t get better until you lose sometimes because you have to find out what you can do better. It was a sad … [guys were] really upset. Guys really care about this team. The culture is really good on this team. They were hurt in there, rightfully so. The message doesn’t change. We’re looking inward and figuring out what we can do.”

For the first time in the College Football Playoff era, the No. 1 team heading into conference championship week will have missed out on the playoff. Instead, the Bulldogs won’t be allowed a chance to defend their back-to-back national championship and will face the other rejected team — Florida State in the Orange Bowl.

The Bulldogs have opened as a 14-point betting favorite heading into the matchup. Opening kickoff for the Orange Bowl is slated for Saturday, Dec. 30 and 4 p.m. ET live on ESPN.

With an opening line like that, it’s hard to argue that Georgia isn’t one of the best four teams in the country. That being said, everything boiled down the Texas win over Alabama in Week 2 — and then Georgia could not finish in the SEC title game when it mattered the most. They still have the opportunity to hoist an Orange Bowl trophy, however, which is about as good of a consolation prize that you could have.