It might’ve sounded like Kirby Smart was nitpicking.

His team had just improved to 8-0 with a blowout victory against Florida, which marked the Bulldogs’ sixth consecutive win by at least 25 points. Three days before the first College Football Playoff poll of the 2017 season, many argued that Saturday was more evidence that Georgia should be ranked No. 1. Yes, ahead of Alabama.

So when Smart addressed the media after the Florida victory, he did his best Nick Saban imitation and talked about “improvements” that his team needed to make.

“We want to play to a certain standard all the time,” Smart said after Saturday’s game. “Every possession is an opportunity to get better. Defensively, you have to tackle better. Offensively, it’s more about execution. We show them the things they do well. Then, we show them the things they did not do well.

“We have an opportunity to get better, and we will continue to improve down the stretch.”

Here’s the crazy thing — that’s not coach speak. Smart is right. His team can absolutely continue to improve and play even better down the stretch.

Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Georgia and Alabama are the closest things to perfect right now, though both of their coaches would argue that neither are close to perfection yet. They hope to be there in a couple months. For now, though, the Dawgs don’t look like a team that has peaked.

Watch Georgia play for 60 minutes and it doesn’t look like a team that needs the ball to bounce its way. The Dawgs’ speed is on another level. Florida got a painful awakening to that on Saturday.

But what might be surprising is that Georgia is only 65th in FBS in turnovers gained. Even with guys like Lorenzo Carter and Roquan Smith wreaking havoc, the Dawgs haven’t relied on turnovers. Certainly Georgia is capable of forcing more than 1.5 turnovers per game.

Besides a missed tackle here, a blown assignment there, that’s really the only area where the defense can significantly improve. Lord knows life is easier on a defense when it gets takeaways.

To this point, life has been pretty easy on the Georgia offense. Short fields, early leads and dominant offensive line play is a nice combination for success. The question is if we’ve really seen Jim Chaney open things up on that side of the ball. I’m not just talking about that sweet flea flicker to start the Mississippi State game.

It isn’t all slants like Chauncey Gardner said, but Jake Fromm hasn’t exactly been asked to put the team on his back yet. The running game has been so productive that Fromm’s arm hasn’t been needed very much.

I mean, the guy had four completions on Saturday. Well, five if you want to count the awful interception he threw.

That’s the thing, though. Fromm is still a true freshman who’s learning more and more about reading defenses. His understanding of the offense isn’t going to regress. There could be more mistakes like the one he made on the pick, but anyone can tell that Fromm’s confidence and development is trending in the right direction.

Perhaps some are worried about Nick Chubb and Sony Michel holding up for the entire season. While losing either one of those players would be a major loss, Georgia has four backs who can score from anywhere on the field. If D’Andre Swift wasn’t forced out of bounds at the 6-yard line after that long catch and run, all four tailbacks would’ve had touchdowns on Saturday.

The Dawgs have depth, and it feels like they’re just figuring out all the ways to maximize it. They also have the right mix of  youth and experience that should prevent any November nosedive.

Georgia’s remaining schedule isn’t going to allow for regression, at least not if it wants to make it to the College Football Playoff. Smart knows that. That’s why he took a page out of Saban’s playbook. He’s determined not to let his team peak too early like the Georgia teams of old.

This isn’t just about beating a weekly opponent or even winning a division title. Smart’s message is about rising to Alabama’s level. That was the goal when he was hired. In Year 2, he’s already delivering.

How high can Georgia fly in 2017? Somehow, even higher.