This time last year, there wasn’t much chatter about the possibility of Georgia winning another national championship. Part of that can be chalked up to the fact that the Bulldogs had to replace so many key members of the 2021 team. The Bulldogs had a record 15 players taken in the 2022 NFL Draft after all.

But after going 15-0 and in some ways topping the feats of the first championship team, Georgia is now looking at the possibility of winning a third-consecutive national title.

That is something that can’t really be ignored, with Georgia head coach Kirby Smart being asked multiple times this week in various interviews about the possibility of doing so.

For Smart, he’s made it clear he’s not looking at the prospect of three-peating. That falls in line with what he had to say last year when he did eventually get asked about winning another national championship.

“It’s no greater pressure than it was last year. Every year is independent of the previous. You start from scratch,” Smart in an interview with 680 Teh Fan on Monday.” You look at your team. You do the best job you can,” Smart said in a radio interview on 680 The Fan earlier this week. “You probably need a little luck just like we had against Ohio State. At the end of the day, I could be sitting here had we lost that game and I’d still think we had a successful season.”

Once again, Georgia will have to replace several key pieces from last year’s championship team. The Bulldogs had 10 players taken in the 2023 NFL Draft, tied with Alabama for the most of any college program.

But Ohio State and Alabama don’t loom as obvious favorites as they did a season ago. In fact, Georgia is the odds-on favorite to win the national title heading into the 2023 season. That comes a year after having the third-best odds.

Georgia will have a new quarterback as well as a new offensive coordinator in Mike Bobo. But despite suffering more personnel losses on the offensive side of the ball this time around, the standard at Georgia is still the same.

“Certainly success is measured by rings and championships,” Smart said. “But internally we measure it by, ‘Did we get the most out of our team?’ We’re going to do the same thing this year with our team that’s coming back.”

As for any changes, Smart knows there will be a target on his team. That was the case last season, which the Georgia head coach acknowledged when he spoke at SEC media days.

That won’t change this season for Georgia, even if there’s more external pressure on the Bulldogs. Smart knows his team is going to get the best shot from each opponent on Georgia’s schedule.

The Bulldogs may now be getting the benefit of the doubt when it comes to being title favorites, something it didn’t have a season ago. But that’s not how championships are won.

Being a two-time champion, Smart knows that better than anybody.

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