As Georgia wrapped up the regular season, the Bulldogs were No. 1 in the SEC in total defense, rushing defense and scoring defense.

At a Monday afternoon press conference, Georgia coach Kirby Smart was asked about the old adage of “defense wins championships” still being applicable in this day and age of college football when offenses are more high-powered than ever. Similarly, this week in the SEC Championship Game, Georgia will face LSU, which boasts the No. 1 scoring offense, passing offense and total offense in the SEC.

“You have to play good football to win period,” Smart said. “I don’t know that that adage ‘defense wins championships’ stands as much as it used to.”

Smart noted that scores from the 1960s to 1980s were indicative of the way the game was played then compared to now.

“Now, it’s like I got to play pretty good defense, I got to score a lot of points,” he said. “I can’t play horrific defense, I can’t play bad defense. But I might not have to be perfect. It’s the way a lot of teams have had success. They probably take more chances and risk in that they just score a ton of points. I’m not talking about LSU, I’m just talking about college football because I think LSU plays really good defense and they are explosive on offense, but an explosive offense allows you to play a certain way on defense, too, because you know that you’re going to score a certain amount of points.”

Smart added that really good defenses are part of teams that have won national championships, like at Alabama and Clemson, but they get overshadowed by really good offenses.

Asked about this defense in comparison to other great units he’s coached, Smart said it’s a tough comparison to make for him.

“Our players have done a tremendous job of working hard and buying in,” Smart said. “We don’t have natural star power on our defense that a lot of the defenses that I’ve been a part of that were successful, they had that. They had 3 or 4 first-rounders. This group plays really hard and well together. They’re well coached, they’re fundamentally sound, but this obviously will be the ultimate test, best offensive unit we’ve played all the way around, really not even close.”