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Kirby Smart responds to question about Georgia’s mindset with Playoff spot essentially clinched
By Sydney Hunte
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Kirby Smart and Georgia closed out their 2nd straight undefeated regular season, eventually pulling away from Georgia Tech to improve to 12-0.
Next up for the Bulldogs is the SEC Championship Game against LSU. The Tigers are coming off a disheartening loss at Texas A&M, given the fact that a win in College Station coupled with one over the Dawgs would probably have been enough to put them in the College Football Playoff.
Meanwhile, regardless of the result in Atlanta, the Dawgs are more than likely in the Playoff. But Smart isn’t looking ahead that far, instead hoping that his team’s focus remains on the program’s 1st win in the conference championship since 2017.
“We’re worried about winning the SEC championship. That’s the most important thing on our agenda: to have an opportunity to do something that rarely gets done,” Smart said on Sunday during his weekly teleconference.
In fact, Georgia’s only won the SEC Championship Game 3 times: 2002, 2005, and, as mentioned, 2017. Outside of 2017, it’s played in the game 3 of the last 4 years, losing to Alabama in 2018, LSU in 2019, and Alabama again in 2021, although it went on to win the national championship that year, of course.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
