Since the loss to Florida two weeks ago, the nature of Georgia’s season has shifted from having an SEC East title in its sights, to remaining focused on four games against teams with mostly losing records.

This week it is Mississippi State, which is scheduled to visit Athens, and coach Kirby Smart shared at his Monday press conference the different preparation it takes to get ready for a Mike Leach Air Raid offense. Smart said it’s similar to preparing to play the old Georgia Tech option attack. Georgia did spend an extra day on MSU last week after the game against Missouri was postponed.

“Every kid has individual motivations, but ultimately, you’ve got to put the team above yourself,” Smart said. “The ultimate goal is to finish strong. We only control how we play, we don’t control other teams. We somewhat don’t control which games we get to play, and don’t get to play. All we control is how we practice today. Our development, each player’s development, whether they’re coming back next year or going to be a senior and may be gone.”

Smart said Leach has recreated his offensive identity as the season has gone, including using different quarterbacks.

“It’s similar to an option team in that you have to defend it patiently, you have to defend it and the ability to deny the ball, you’ve got to be able to play man to man, they look for man to man,” Smart said. “There’s a lot of things in their system that are different than traditional offenses in our conference. So they brought some outside elements that haven’t been in the SEC and the SEC, some of the teams, have completed changed what they do. I think it’s really hard to change what you do within a week, to get ready for a team like this.”

Smart added that he feels good about the game being played this week after Mississippi State has reported improving injury situations and COVID-19 positive tests to the point where it is above the minimum numbers of scholarship players available.