Kirk Herbstreit breaks down what future looks like for Georgia, Kirby Smart

Kirk Herbstreit knows it won’t get any easier for Georgia. After Kirby Smart led the Bulldogs to their first national championship since 1980 this past season, a target was placed on their back.

In an appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show, the ESPN analyst explained how the team should handle the extra pressure next year.

“It’s one thing to get up there and it’s hard to do,” Herbstreit said. “It had been 41 years since they got up there. Kirby has been working on this for four or five years. Now that they’re there, it’s such a different thing to deal with everybody’s best shot. Everybody you play, it’s going to be their Super Bowl. But most importantly, when you’re in that winter conditioning and you get into spring, do you have that same energy? Do you have that same motivation that you had when you weren’t a champion? Avoiding complacency. Keeping your eye on the prize. Realizing few teams repeat. So it’s a new kind of pressure for Georgia.”

Herbstreit believes the Bulldogs could learn from Alabama, the team it defeated in the national title game. Few coaches in the history of the sport have handled success as well as Nick Saban. In the past 15 years, he has led the Tide to six championships, including back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012.

“That’s why Nick Saban is the best coach in the history of college football, for me,” the analyst said. “There have been a lot of great ones, but to me he’s the top guy. Every year through changes with personnel on the field and changes with coordinators. I have never added up how many coordinators he’s had since 2008 when he’s been winning, but they come and go. The only thing that’s constant is Nick Saban. He knows how to get it done every single year. …That’s what makes Alabama special.”

Making matters even more difficult for Georgia next season is all the departing talent. Several star Bulldogs, including linebackers Nakobe Dean and Channing Tindall. But they also return Nolan Smith and others, plus have talent waiting on the second team.

Kirk Herbstreit still thinks Georgia will enter as a top team. But if it hopes to keep that status, it will be easier said than done.

“They’re still gonna be talented. They’re still gonna be the team to beat. All that’s a given. But just to maintain that edge they played with this year and trying to do it next year and the year after that, that’s what separates Alabama from any team I’ve covered in the 26 years I’ve been doing it.”