Kirby Smart reacts to Week 7 loss to Auburn: ‘Found a way to beat themselves’
By Ethan Stone
Published:
Kirby Smart said it last week after Georgia’s win over Alabama: In the SEC, humility is a week away.
Smart’s Bulldogs fell to Auburn on Saturday, becoming among the first of many ranked teams to fall on what was a historic day in college football. Georgia started strong but let Auburn creep back in and take a halftime lead, which the Tigers never relinquished.
Following the game, Smart made sure to give Auburn its due credit. The Georgia coach said the Tigers out-executed the Bulldogs and protected the football well, which was enough to win them the day. Smart also noted that his team didn’t perform to their standard and “found a way to beat themselves.”
Here’s his full opening statement from the podium:
“We like to say the Dawgs don’t beat the Dawgs, but they found a way to beat themselves today,” Smart said. “Like I say, humility is a week away. Auburn played better than us today, they executed better than us today, didn’t turn the ball over and hit the red area plays. We had some really, really untimely, undisciplined, uncharacteristic penalties, so I give them credit, but at the end of the day, we pick it up, everything we want to do is in front of us.”
“I know it’s a big deal to everybody else, but to me it’s another game, and we have to turn around and get ready to go play again.”
Despite the loss to unranked Auburn, Georgia is in good shape to crack the College Football Playoff and still sits atop the SEC standings thanks to some chaos from around the conference. However, the Bulldogs can’t afford to come out with the same energy they showed in Week 7 against the likes of Florida, Ole Miss and Mizzou across the next 4 weeks.
For now, Smart and Co. are entering a much-needed bye week ahead of their Week 9 contest against the Gators.
Ethan Stone is a Saturday Down South News Editor and an advocate for the return of the Seattle Supersonics.
