Kirby Smart might just love this team because the players love to do what he preaches.

Smart, who is short on rankings talk and armchair and barstool quarterback whisperers, and long on the step-by-step preparation of each practice at a time gauging who plays on Saturday, is enjoying the No. 1 team in the land.

Georgia won the SEC East on Saturday thanks primarily to the efforts of its defense. The ferocious unit gave up one touchdown while it forced 3 Florida turnovers. Then scored a touchdown of its own thanks to a Nakobe Dean pick-6. Georgia has given up just 53 points on the season, outscoring 8 opponents 303-53. Those 53 points allowed are the fewest points allowed through 8 games by any team since 1993 Florida State, according to Sports Reference. That FSU team went on to beat Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, and win the national championship in both major polls.

Here’s more eyebrow-raising context: Georgia’s defense has scored 3 touchdowns and allowed 5 this season.

The defense is No. 1 in the country in yards per play (3.76) and No. 2 behind Wisconsin in yards per game (226.6), and total yards allowed (1,813).

It is a defense that has a nickname itself, “No-Name,” and Smart is confident enough in the leadership to bestow the “Commander in Chief” nickname on Dean. It combines the highlight-reel plays from Dean and Nolan Smith, with the steadiness and consistency of Quay Walker, who had a team-high 13 tackles. Throw in Adam Anderson with 7 tackles and a sack, and Florida’s offense had nowhere to turn.

“I have fun watching these guys practice,” Smart told CBS after the Florida win. “These guys go about their meetings and practice every day so serious, taking notes, getting nuggets. Their coaches do an awesome job, but these guys are special.”

This wasn’t the first time Smart has let loose and held his visor high into the Florida sky, and as guarded and calculated as Smart is with his Monday comments and talk of the quarterback situation, he is equally open about celebrating when the time comes.

“If you can’t enjoy these moments, then what are we doing? If I can’t embrace my family, see them and love on them, enjoy the fans and stick around for it, that’s what it’s all about for me?” Smart said after the win. “I had a coach tell me a long time ago if you can’t enjoy those moments, then why are you in the business. Players work hard. They practice so many times a week for this one game. I want them to enjoy it. It doesn’t matter to me that it’s Florida, the important thing to me is it’s our team and we won.”

The final 4 games should be a walkover as the line of conversation around Smart will be motivation and how to gauge the program against itself, to live up to the established standard, not the other side of the field, for example, where Georgia opens as a 39-point favorite against Missouri.

It will be points like the Georgia coaching staff made ahead of Florida, when it pointed out that the defense was No. 68 in the country in turnovers. But after the flurry on Saturday, the Bulldogs moved to No. 34. Finding “nuggets” like that will be at the forefront of preparation each week and beyond as Smart and the program seeks to find the ever-elusive elite standard and replace “1980” with “2021.”

When they do, look for that visor to be waving in the air as he celebrates with the Dawg Nation.