Attention on present challenge, not Alabama, for Georgia
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia clinched its spot in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday, and with results from around the league, the matchup with Alabama is all set. However, as two games remain in the regular season, you won’t be finding the Bulldogs worrying about anything more than their next opponent.
“It’s a challenge. I mean, it’s a challenge we accept,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said on Monday, speaking about staying in the present with the world pulling him and his players in other directions. “It’s part of the passion you have for the job is to reinvent yourself every week and not succumb to the stuff that’s out there. And it’s something we take a lot of pride in, and our players believe in what we tell them. That’s the number one thing. You’ve got to have the trust of the players, or your messaging doesn’t work. The messaging is that we’re trying to find the best version of ourselves, and every week we’re trying to find the best version of ourselves. And that doesn’t change based on who we play.”
Smart was asked after Georgia’s 52-17 win over Ole Miss if he’ll have any support staffers starting to pay attention to Alabama over the next few weeks. No chance according to the coach.
“No, no. Support staff will be looking at Tennessee and Georgia Tech. We’ve got to break down the games we’ve got. There’s nothing different logistically. Tomorrow morning we’ll wake up and go to work on Tennessee.”
Smart’s players certainly take after their coach. All the emphasis postgame was on the next one.
“It’s a big honor definitely, but we’re more focused on going to Knoxville next week and a very hostile environment, a very good opponent,” Kamari Lassiter said about clinching the East.
“We’ve got to take care of business in Knoxville first,” Zion Logue added, interrupting a reporter that made brief mention of the SEC Championship Game before asking whether Georgia’s best ball was still ahead. ” For sure. As a defense we still allowed 17 points. We don’t even want to allow 13 or 14. We’ve still got room to improve, but I love how resilient this team is. We fight to the last whistle, and I just love my guys.”
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Of course the Vols, ranked No. 21 by the AP and No. 19 by the Coaches, offer plenty of challenge as well. Tennessee finds itself fourth in the SEC for total offense led by the league’s second-best rushing attack.
“It’s a big game every year we play Tennessee. They’re a good program, we’re a good program and the two are going to match up,” Smart said. “As far as our focus on it, our players respect the hell out of Tennessee. They know how hard it is to play them. We had to play them up there two years ago, and it’s tough. It’s a tough prep. We’ll be focused.”
With a win over Tennessee, Georgia will have come out on top in 28 straight, tying the all-time SEC record set by Alabama twice before.
Kickoff time for Saturday is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS. The Bulldogs are considered to be double-digit point favorites according to oddsmakers.
