(SEC Photo)
Georgia coach Kirby Smart has two national championships in his nine years with the Bulldogs and many college football analysts believe he has the team to do it again this season.
Smart talked about his team’s schedule, including a game at Kentucky in mid-September, during his time at Southeastern Conference Media Days in Dallas
Q. In this new SEC, Georgia got a pretty tough road draw. Alabama on the road, Texas on the road, Ole Miss on the road, Kentucky on the road. Talk about your road schedule and how you are preparing your team for this tough 2024 schedule.
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, initially I was wondering how I got that draw, but we’re not one to complain. We’re one to be excited. I think when you step into the shoes of a University of Georgia football player, you accept that challenge is going to be there.
I mean, we kind of embrace that and we love it. I mean, what you didn’t get to mention is we open with Clemson, too, one of the top programs in the country. So we’re really excited about that. I think that motivates our off-season so that we have the right kind of approach to the off-season.
You know, our guys embrace that. As coaches we want to play the best. People forget that when you’ve spent time in the NFL, every week was like that. So when Texas and Oklahoma came into the conference, every schedule was going to get harder. We embrace that. We look forward to it. We are excited for the challenge to go to some really tough places.
Q. When you look at your schedule and the potential of playing 16, 17 games, do you think that will change how you guys manage maybe a lead or trying to get guys out of games earlier? Will it add any importance to the overall strength of your roster from 1 to 85?
KIRBY SMART: Playing the schedule we play and improving the strength of roster, I don’t know if that’s the case. The way we go about practicing is critical. I believe in having a physical, tough camp. I don’t think you back off about that. If you do, it may not matter about those games. If you’re not physical enough at the line of scrimmage and tough enough and you don’t demand excellence, because during the season there is only so much we can do to create the toughness that we need at the line of scrimmage and the toughness we need as an overall football team.
Camp is tough. I think that it’s important that it remains tough. We did have to be smart to stay healthy. We have certain areas we have more depth, and you have to be smart and calculated about the risk you take of losing guys.
I think every coach is reflecting right now, okay, we may have a longer schedule. We certainly have a tougher schedule. How we play games is play to win. How we play at the end of the game, if we have leads, we’re always look to get guys opportunities and grow players like Carson Beck getting in a lot of games when he was behind Stetson so they’re ready when their opportunity comes.
Q. Coach, you mentioned wanting to play the best. You have Texas this year. Do you consider them to be one of the best, and what stands out to you about them?
KIRBY SMART: Every team we play is the best that week. Please understand that. In the SEC humility is a week away. I have a ton of respect for Sark and the job he does.
Got to watch them play last year against several common opponents, got to watch them play in the playoffs. They have a tremendous recruiting base. They do a tremendous job in recruiting, that includes NIL and everything included in that.
They’re a big, physical team. They are built like an SEC football team, so looking forward to an opportunity to come play them. What a tremendous matchup it will be.
Q. With the 12-team playoff coming up, do you worry about attrition? Two teams will play at least 17 games. Do you think maybe abolishing the conference championship game for all leagues would help the matter.
KIRBY SMART: You know, I’m not for doing that. I still think there is value in winning an SEC championship. The unique thing about the career that I’ve had coaching, I’ve almost won as many SEC championships as national championships, and I’ve won two national championships when I didn’t win an SEC championship as a program. That is unique. I mean, it’s not supposed to happen that way. So do I worry about attrition in terms of having more games? I worry about attrition having four teams. Every coach worries about attrition, right?
You have to do a good job maintaining your roster, staying healthy, practicing the right way, being smart, and I think being a watchdog is part of my job. I’m not a coordinator anymore. I want to watch the drills we do, see how we practice, make sure we can maintain health.
It’s hard to do in the SEC. That’s why you get a chance to recruit to 85 scholarships, so that you have depth. Can you get your younger players ready faster than your opponent is a huge advantage.
No, I don’t want to see the conference championship go away. I think it’s one the greatest venues in all of college sports, in all of sports.
The games we played in Atlanta have been some of the best, most memorable games that I’ve ever been a part of, and to take that away, I think there is teams that are going to look back at that SEC championship, and it’s very meaningful, and I don’t want to take away from that meaning.
