Paul Finebaum senses change at Georgia: 'Kirby Smart was different'

Paul Finebaum saw a change in Georgia coach Kirby Smart this past week in a 31-17 win against Tennessee. With the Bulldogs coming off of their second loss of the season last week against Ole Miss, they entered the game with their backs against the wall.

However, even when it fell behind 10-0 after the end of the first quarter, Georgia didn’t flinch. Smart and his team rallied back to tie things up at 17 before halftime and came out to dominate the final two quarters.

Speaking on The Matt Barrie Show on Sunday, Finebaum noted a change in how Smart approached the game.

“Kirby Smart, he was different,” the SEC Network analyst said. “I’ve been around him a lot and the last couple of years, you could feel the pressure of defending and going for the threepeat. He was back to being an underdog yesterday. He was a 9.5-point favorite, I want to be clear, but he acted like an underdog.

“Did that have anything to do with Carson Beck? I think Carson Beck finally just calmed down. He literally tried everything under the sun and it worked. He got a couple of good catches, too. That’s what he wasn’t getting in the past.”

Beck had one of his better games of the season to finish 25-of-40 passing for 347 yards and two touchdowns. He also added 32 yards rushing, including a 10-yard touchdown run.

Georgia now sits in third place in the SEC standings with no more conference games on its schedule. The Bulldogs would need Alabama and Ole Miss to lose to make the conference championship, as those teams also have two league losses but own the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Bulldogs.

There’s not much it can do but hope things fall its way in that regard, but the win against Tennessee this past week gives it a decent chance to make the College Football Playoff as an at-large team.