ATHENS \u2014 Kirby Smart didn\u2019t spend any time celebrating Georgia\u2019s new No. 1 ranking, and no one in his press corps bothered to ask him about it on Monday.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the 40th time since 2021 the Bulldogs have been ranked No. 1 \u2014 easily out-distancing Ohio State, which has been ranked No. 1 the second-most times, 17.<\/p>\n
Smart has been clear he doesn\u2019t pay much attention to poll and is considerably more focused on ensuring the Bulldogs (6-0, 4-0 SEC) don\u2019t suffer a letdown against an Auburn team (3-2, 1-2) that\u2019s coming off a bye when the teams meet at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at Sanford Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us it\u2019s on to Auburn,\u201d Smart said at his Monday press conference in Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall. \u201cAs y\u2019all know, (it\u2019s) the South\u2019s oldest rivalry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smart said that as a boy growing up in Bainbridge, Georgia, the Auburn rivalry was particularly special to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually lived closer to there than any other SEC school,\u201d Smart said. \u201cI have known a lot of coaches there and the two places I\u2019ve worked most of my life (Georgia and Alabama), that\u2019s been a permanent rival and certainly been a very traditional rivalry both places I worked and I have so much respect for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smart said Georgia\u2019s prep leading up to the game will be particularly important in the wake of the hard-fought and emotional 20-17 win at Alabama.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey (Auburn) are coming off an off week, and we\u2019re coming off a really tough game,\u201d Smart said, \u201cso it will be really important that the mindset and the approach to the game is right because they want to make it physical the way they play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smart said Auburn\u2019s defense possesses speed and athleticism.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can fly to the ball, they play really hard, they attack the ball,\u201d Smart said. \u201cThey blitz, they come after you, they\u2019re aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a beat-up Georgia team that might still be without its top two tailbacks, as Nate Frazier (ribs) was in too much pain to play at Alabama, and Chauncey Bowens was added to the injury report last week with what appeared to be an ankle injury suffered in the Oct. 3 win over Vanderbilt.<\/p>\n
Smart said on Monday Georgia didn\u2019t have any players they could move to the tailback position, and he didn\u2019t offer an update on the current players\u2019 injury status.<\/p>\n
Smart did say that tight end Jaden Reddell is \u201ca little dinged up\u201d after taking a hit in the Alabama game, but he did not elaborate any further. <\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what Smart said on Monday:<\/p>\n
Opening Statement<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, it\u2019s on to Auburn. As y\u2019all know, it\u2019s the South\u2019s Oldest Rivalry. It\u2019s an awesome rivalry. It\u2019s one that was special to me growing up close to Auburn. I actually lived closer to there than any other SEC school. I\u2019ve known a lot of coaches there, and it seems like from the two places I\u2019ve worked most of my life, that\u2019s been a permanent rival. It\u2019s certainly been a very traditional rivalry both places I\u2019ve worked, and I have so much respect for them. Coach [Alex] Golesh is doing a great job coming in and taking over the program, installing his belief, his offense, his things. They have a lot of talent. They\u2019ve got good football players, and it\u2019s any given Saturday in this conference, as we see every week. It will be an extremely physical game. They\u2019re coming off an off week, and we\u2019re coming off a really tough physical game. It will be really important that the mindset and the approach to the game is right because they want to make it physical the way they play. They\u2019re a really tough, physical football team on both sides of the ball. Coach [DJ] Durkin, their defensive coordinator, has been one of the best in the conference over all the years he\u2019s been in the conference. He\u2019s a great defensive football coach. We\u2019ve got a lot of links, a lot of respect for him. Our guys have to get ready to go play.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Auburn head coach Alex Golesh\u2019s offense\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cPhysical. People want to make it about passing, and they do have a lot of good passes, and they have tempo. They get a lot of plays, but they\u2019re physical. They\u2019re physical at the point of attack. When you watch the games I watched yesterday on them, you immediately see those same pillars of his program, being able to throw the ball vertical down the field and being physical at the point of attack. They\u2019ve got a guy that can do that at quarterback.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the Alabama game tape\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re focusing on Auburn, really. I don\u2019t think I ever said anything after the game about going back and watching the tape of it. We watched the tape of it. It was extremely physical, and this one\u2019s going to be really physical, too. It was a really hard-fought game. Mistakes made both ways, but I promise you the page for us is focused on this Auburn team because they\u2019re well-rested and have a good football team coming in here.\u201d<\/p>\n
On dealing with success throughout the season\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want good football players. We want high-character kids that want to be at Georgia. We look for toughness, because that\u2019s what the conference is, but who doesn\u2019t look for toughness? We don\u2019t have these traits that are secret to us. We think it\u2019s more important what you do with your players than the players you get. We all have a pool of players. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a huge separation like some people do between the players. It\u2019s what you do with them. It\u2019s mindset training, it\u2019s lifting, it\u2019s concept training, it\u2019s defensive schemes, offensive schemes. It\u2019s how you practice. It\u2019s the culture you breed in the off-season program that makes your programs different. As far as identifying players we take, we want to take tough players that love football. I just don\u2019t think that\u2019s different than other people.\u201d<\/p>\n
On teaching composure to players\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a learned behavior. I think some people have already learned it when they get here. Some people have further to go in terms of learning to managing their composure. It\u2019s part of a DNA trait we have here that we sell early on, and we highlight it each and every day that it doesn\u2019t show up. I think you take a lot of opportunities and mistakes that other people have, and you try to learn from them. The greatest learning tool you have is experience your failures within your own program, and we\u2019ve certainly had those. When we do, we highlight them and bring them out and explain how loss of composure can affect not yourself, it can affect others.\u201d <\/p>\n
On the origin of \u2018Mudita\u2019\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important in all team sports. You go to a business, and you go across the country and you look at successful businesses, you have to have pride in performance. You have to celebrate team goals. This is a team sport. Football is probably the ultimate team sport. As much as we want to make it not that, with individual awards and NIL and the culture that we\u2019ve inherited, it still boils down to the best teams play well together. Without \u2018Mudita,\u2019 you can\u2019t really do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
On leaked audio from the locker room\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s happened before. It\u2019s not something I want. I feel like that\u2019s a spot that you should be able to feel safe to talk to your team and communicate with your team. It\u2019s happened before to us. We\u2019ve got to do a better job managing it, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Alabama fans interacting with players\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know that you can predict; you want people to make good decisions and do things the right way, and Raylen [Wilson] certainly did there. There\u2019s so much that goes into that. He thought it was a Georgia fan which probably helping him react the way he did initially. It\u2019s disappointing behavior by any fan, and certainly nothing we condone. I\u2019m sure Alabama doesn\u2019t condone it either.\u201d<\/p>\n
On potentially moving players to tailback\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have anybody to move there. Tyriq Green? He can\u2019t move there. We have the guys that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
On TE Jaden Reddell\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a little dinged up, and I thought he played really hard after the hit and played with toughness. He continues to grow as a player, and I\u2019m proud of where he\u2019s at.\u201d<\/p>\n
On third down success\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have an experienced quarterback, and we\u2019ve been able to run the ball better. If you go back two years ago, for whatever reason, we really struggled to run the ball. What does that equal? Third and long. What does that equal? 39%. We ran the ball better last year, and we had a quarterback that was in his first year starting. I think it\u2019s attributed to the offensive staff. It\u2019s attributed to the quarterback play. It\u2019s attributed to the ability to run the ball on early downs and not get behind the sticks.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the safeties against Alabama\u2026 <\/p>\n
\u201cSome good, some bad. There are some things we can improve and work on, but they certainly played hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
On changing expectations for first-year head coaches\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still waiting for the first \u2018Curt Cignetti effect\u2019 in the SEC. It\u2019s tough, tough, tough sledding, week-in and week-out. Maybe it can happen with the right guy bringing the right players with him, but it\u2019s tough. The key to all that is the quarterback, and Coach Cignetti\u2019s done a tremendous job developing or bringing or getting quarterbacks. That\u2019s a big part to every offense or team\u2019s success.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the freshmen making an impact in games\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say, those two [Craig Dandridge Jr. and Blake Stewart] that you mentioned, they don\u2019t play late in the game. They play in the game. It\u2019s not a late-in-the-game deal. They\u2019re good football players. Some have created opportunities through injuries. Some have created opportunities through earning it themselves. In this day and age, you can\u2019t survive without freshmen being able to play. It is one of two things if you\u2019re not playing freshmen: you\u2019ve got a really good old team, which is rare, or you don\u2019t have very good freshmen. I don\u2019t really want to have the second. If those guys are available and the best to play, obviously, they\u2019ll play. We\u2019ve had a really good track record for the last couple years, the most played snaps of freshmen. We\u2019ve been in the top five in the country. That\u2019s because we play a lot of players, we sign good freshmen, and we\u2019re not afraid to play them. \u201c<\/p>\n
On RB Dwight Phillips, Jr\u2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis vision, his unique toughness for his size, and his speed. He has great vision, a great one-cut, and he\u2019s got great toughness. His speed is elite.\u201d<\/p>\n
On WR Isiah Canion\u2019s status and missing Canion and WR Thomas Blackshear at Alabama\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lower extremity injury [Canion]. We had to go all week not knowing about Isiah [Canion] we knew on Thomas [Blackshear]. How does it affect you? I think if you talk to Mike [Bobo] and you talk to the offensive staff, it\u2019s frustrating because you don\u2019t really know who\u2019s in and who\u2019s out. You\u2019re trying to make decisions. Like I said, we thought Nate [Fraizer] was going to be able to play, and that was a surprise to us. Isiah, we knew we\u2019d be close, or maybe or maybe not. It just makes it hard because you can\u2019t get enough reps for guys, especially when you\u2019ve got guys trying to take some reps as walk-through reps.\u201d <\/p>\n
On offensive coordinator Mike Bobo\u2019s impact\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have some magic potion in the way we do things. We\u2019re a week away from humility on both sides of the ball. I do think his intense way he carries himself with the offense, the way the offensive staff plans, the schedule we keep Monday through Saturday of prep, of changing, of evolving, of adding this wrinkle, taking this wrinkle, utilizing personnel groupings, scheme. He\u2019s very smart in the run game in a world that, I don\u2019t want to say young coaches, but a lot of new-age coaches don\u2019t get infatuated with the run game or the details of a run game in terms of who\u2019s blocking who. All of those things are important to him. When I say that, I say it talking about his total staff and the way they go about presenting to the total offense each and every day, day in and day out, Monday through Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Auburn\u2019s defense\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cSpeed, athleticism. They can fly the ball. They play really hard. They attack the ball. They blitz and come after you. They\u2019re aggressive. You can see his [DJ Durkin] personality coming out in the players in the way they play.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATHENS \u2014 Kirby Smart didn\u2019t spend any time celebrating Georgia\u2019s new No. 1 ranking, and no one in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":880241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[5183,399,681,398,396,397,99,9224],"class_list":["post-880240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-alabama","tag-football","tag-georgia","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports","tag-uga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/880241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}