Coaches are always looking for ways to put motivate players. For Kirby Smart, he considered a unique way to do that after Georgia’s big win over Tennessee this past week.
Smart, in an interview with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt, spoke about there was some concern Georgia players would celebrate the massive win over Tennessee a little too much.
“You know, I was worried coming into the team meeting Monday about them patting themselves on the back and being all high and mighty about the Tennessee game,” Smart said. “We were going to have a memorial service to kind of bury that game and put it away, but a bunch of the players came to me and were like, ‘Coach, you don’t need to do that. We’re over it. Let’s go.’”
The Bulldogs don’t have a lot of time to relax, given the challenge this week. Georgia is on the road visiting a Mississippi State team that has not lost at home this season. While the Bulldogs have a productive passing offense led by quarterback Will Rogers, it is schematically very different from what Georgia saw a week ago against Tennessee.
Add in that it is a road game in less-than-ideal circumstances, Mississippi State is going to make things difficult for Georgia. The last time Georgia went on the road, the Bulldogs slogged their way to a 26-22 win over Missouri.
Such is life in the SEC. Smart understands this, knowing Georgia faces a week-in, week-out grind.
The Bulldogs though have a chance to do something this year that season’s team did not. That carrot has proven to be a strong motivator for this group of Georgia players.
“This team’s driving factor is they really want to win an SEC Championship,” Smart said. “You can’t really do that without winning in Starkville. They want to do something last year’s team didn’t do, and we didn’t win the SEC last year. So it’s one step at a time, and you can’t win the SEC until you win the SEC East.”
Related: Georgia football not worried about possible SEC East title: ‘You just focus on Mississippi State’
Georgia can clinch the SEC East this weekend with a win over Mississippi State this Saturday. Should LSU beat Arkansas and Alabama take down Ole Miss, the SEC championship game would be set between the Bulldogs and LSU.
Despite winning the SEC East four times previously, the Bulldogs have only once won the SEC under Smart. That came back in 2017 as Georgia beat Auburn 28-7.
Georgia holds the No. 1 ranking in the College Football Playoff rankings at the moment. Should Georgia continue to win, it seems well-positioned to get back to the College Football Playoff. The SEC champion has also never missed the College Football Playoff since its inception in 2014.
Georgia takes on Mississippi State this Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.
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