One of the University of Georgia’s biggest football games every year is its showdown with border foe Florida.
And just days before the Bulldogs take on the Gators in neutral-site Jacksonville, head coach Kirby Smart praised his 6-1 squad.
“This group’s been resilient as hell,” Smart said on the Bear Bets Podcast.
However, Smart offered one caveat about his squad that’s currently sitting at +1200 to win the College Football Playoffs.
“I like teams that are good at doing the killing. We haven’t been that team, so we gotta live with the identity we have until we can get it fixed.”
Kirby could be referencing Georgia’s trend this season of starting slow on offense and then having to play from behind.
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Against Auburn, Georiga went into the half down 10-3 before scoring 17 points in the second half to win 20-10. Against Ole Miss, the Dawgs were down 35-26 going into the fourth quarter before pulling off the 43-35 upset over the top-ranked Rebs.
“The locker room at halftime hasn’t always been jovial, to say the least,” Kirby joked.
Will Kirby Smart add another win to his tally against Florida this weekend?
Smart, who’s in his 10th season as Georgia’s head coach, has built a program whose success has been rooted in its defensive prowess. In fact, several players from the Dawgs’ 2021 championship team ended up on Philadelphia’s defense — a unit that was integral in helping the Eagles win the Super Bowl earlier this year.
“It’s strange because I’ve been part of defenses that have struggled. But this one’s been different. It’s hard to pinpoint. We had our most missed tackles in the Alabama game and the Ole Miss game.
“Whatever the issue is, it rears its head game to game. It’s like, ‘what’s going on?'”
If Kirby & Co. have it their way, those woes will be kept at bay this weekend when they face a Florida team whose storied history with Georgia has been one filled with animus.
“That’s the area that we recruit the most,” Coach Smart explained about the state of Florida. “That’s where the SEC East was won and lost for years. That’s created a really strong dislike for both teams. It’s been a great rivalry.”
Georgia is prepping for a Gator team that has seen brighter days. At 3-4, Florida’s program relieved Billy Napier of his head coaching duties after Week 8.
But even with that huge development, Kirby said he’s maintaining the attitude that “every week in the SEC is a season” because having a new coach could “provide juice or energy” for Florida.
And for those keeping score or looking for a betting trend, as Georgia’s head coach, Kirby Smart is 7-2 straight up against the Gators.
“We just need to know that we’re gonna get their best and our job is to deliver our best.”
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