Kirby Smart slips up speaking on how Georgia has prepared for unknown Playoff opponent
The 12-team College Football Playoff has created a lot of newness. For the first time, there are postseason games being played on campus. That starts tonight as Notre Dame takes on Indiana in South Bend. There’s also the unique aspect of four teams earning byes into the quarterfinals and having multiple weeks to prepare for the Playoffs without knowing who it is they are playing. For Kirby Smart and Georgia, “it’s been an adventure.”
“Well we spent most of this week, a couple of days on each team. That was very unique for us because we’ve never had two teams to work on. So we did work on each team,” Smart said during an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay.
“It’s been really unique. It’s been an adventure,” he continued. “Our offensive and defensive staff, and special teams, have had to break down both teams. Not to mention handle the portal and portal visitors and guys going into the portal and coming out of the portal. I’ve talked to several coaches that are playing today and tomorrow, and it’s been a nightmare for them because they’ve had to prep for this game while also trying to maintain their roster for next year.”
Smart is spot on in the fact that there are a lot of complicating factors to this first 12-team Playoff. Not only is there the unique nature of not knowing who will be on the opposite sideline January 1st in New Orleans just yet, but there transfer portal opened on December 9th.
Eight Georgia players have entered – none major contributors but a couple that have played throughout the year for UGA. The Bulldogs rank tied for fifth with Indiana, behind Arizona State (12), Boise State (10), Texas (9) and Tennessee (9) but more thank Ohio State (7), Oregon (6), Penn State (4) and Notre Dame, SMU and Clemson, all of whom have three.
Smart said he’ll be watching Friday night’s game with prospects – both transfer portal and high school – that are in town to check out Athens. It’s the last weekend of visits before a dead period that lasts unit the turn of the calendar to January. In talking about the first round matchup though, Smart did have a possible freudian slip on who he expects Georgia to play, mentioned Purdue instead of Indiana as the opponent for Notre Dame.
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Kirby Smart reacts
Notre Dame fans chant 'We want Georgia'
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“We took Notre Dame and Purdue, I’m sorry, Notre Dame and Indiana and we worked on both those teams. We worked a day on each. I’m looking forward to this matchup because both teams are very different,” Smart said, with laughter in his ear from the College GameDay crew realizing his mistake almost instantaneously. “We’ll have a lot of recruits in town tonight, and we’ll get to watch the game with some prospects and some of our young midyears that are in town. So I’ll be watching it in enjoyment.”
In response to the ‘We want Georgia’ chants from the crowd in South Bend, Smart encouraged Reece Davis, Pat McAfee and company to stir up the Fighting Irish fans in attendance. He also knows focus for Notre Dame needs to be on Indiana, just as focus in Athens has been on the Bulldogs.
“They’ve got to worry about their first game first. That’s for sure. We’ve got to worry about ourselves. That’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to get better ourselves and have been working really hard. Our kids have had a great attitude about practicing. I’m excited about it.”
Kickoff time for Notre Dame and Indiana is set for 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC/ESPN. Georgia gets the winner New Year’s Day in New Orleans in a Allstate Sugar Bowl-College Football Playoff quarterfinal matchup.
