Smart on SEC title game: ‘I grew up thinking that was the greatest game in the world’
ATHENS — Georgia does not know when it will next play.
But Kirby Smart spoke very clearly when asked if Georgia might prefer to rest instead of playing in the SEC championship game.
“If you worry about injury risk, we won’t practice next week,” Smart said on Friday. “So you live your life scared of injuries, you know what you get? A very scared team.”
Georgia lost starting center Drew Bobo to a lower leg injury during its 16-9 win over Georgia Tech.
Yet if there is a chance for Georgia to play in the SEC championship game, even without Bobo, Smart wants to be there.
“There’s also an opportunity to win an SEC championship,” Smart said. “Does that matter? Does anybody care about that anymore? I mean, I grew up thinking that was the greatest game in the world and just different from everybody else. Yeah, we lost guys today to injury. We’re going to lose guys in practice to injury.”
Smart didn’t stop there, lamenting the fact that playing in the SEC championship game could be seen as a bad thing.
“Like, that’s what’s wrong with this whole thing now,” Smart said. “It’s like, well, what if you get hurt? What if you do this? What if you do that? I mean, it’s football. It’s all part of it.”
Georgia knows better than anyone the dangers of playing in the SEC championship game. Last year, starting quarterback Carson Beck suffered a season-ending elbow injury against Texas.
Yet that cleared the way for Gunner Stockton to take over as the starting quarterback. He made his first career start in the College Football Playoff loss to Notre Dame.
Of this week’s projected College Football Playoff field, Stockton is the only quarterback to have previously started a CFP game.
“The (SEC) championship game, I mean, it’s where you want to be at the end of the day and it was a great atmosphere, and that’s where we want to be at the end of the day,” Stockton said.
To get there, Georgia will need either Texas to beat Texas A&M or Auburn to beat Alabama. The Aggies and Crimson Tide are both favored to win but must go on the road and beat a rival.
The Bulldogs move to 11-1 and certainly clinch a spot in the College Football Playoff field.
As for what’s next, Georgia doesn’t know. It could play next week in Atlanta. It could play next month in the first round of the College Football Playoff, with those games scheduled for Dec. 19 and 20.
It could also have to wait till next year to play, in the event it doesn’t play in the SEC championship game yet still finds a way to get a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff as a top-four seed. If Georgia, currently ranked No. 4, holds its seeding, it may have to wait until Jan. 1 to take the field again.
“The sweet spot is win,” Smart said. “You’ll question what the right decision was, right? There is no right decision. I mean, we talked to coaches all over the place last year that dealt with it, and there was the extended long layoff, there was the non-extended long layoff, there was the Ohio State got hot, and they didn’t play in a (conference) championship. I mean, look, at the end of the day, you gotta do what you feel best about.”
Smart laid out Georgia’s plan for next week, as best he can to this point.
“First thing we’ll do is go in, look at our roster, talk to our kids, visit with our kids, get ready for signing day, get recovery, do some lifting,” Smart said. “Do some self-scout, look at some other opponents and see what they’re doing well, how we can maybe grow our encyclopedia of offense and defense, and just continue to get better.”
About the Author
Connor Riley has been covering the University of Georgia since 2014 before moving to DawgNation full-time before the 2018 season. He helps in all areas of the site such as team coverage, recruiting, video production, social media and podcasting. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 2016.
