Kirby Smart hoping Georgia gets SEC title shot, dismisses injury fears ahead of CFP run
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Kirby Smart isn’t in the business of being scared of injuries to his talented, 4th-ranked Georgia team and he doesn’t want those talented players worried about injuries either.
After Friday afternoon’s 16-9 rivalry victory over Georgia Tech in Atlanta finished off an 11-1 regular season, the Bulldogs head coach was confronted with the predictable dilemma by reporters in the postgame press conference. Georgia is almost certainly headed to the College Football Playoff regardless of whether it squeezes into the SEC Championship Game next Saturday in that same stadium in Atlanta.
The Dawgs need some help to get back to Atlanta for another game there in 8 days, needing either a loss by Texas A&M or Alabama. But does Smart even want another game on Georgia’s docket before the Playoff begins? Does he want his Bulldogs to play in that SEC title game and risk more injuries before the games that truly matter?
Smart’s reply to all of that was why worry about injuries, because do you really want your football program living in fear?
“You live your life scared of injuries, you know what you get? A very scared team,” Kirby Smart said.
Smart then shot back about the honor of getting the chance to win an SEC title.
“There’s also the opportunity to win an SEC championship. Does that matter?” said Smart, knowing he believes it still does.
“We lost guys (Friday) to injury. We’re gonna lose guys in practice to injury,” pointed out Smart in discussing the risk/reward factor in playing an extra game before the Playoff.
Smart and his team will know soon enough if all of this talk means something or if it was for nothing.
But his point on Friday was why worry about it when injuries can come at any time, in any practice or in any game.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
