Kirby Smart met the media on Monday. He does that each and every Monday.

But this was a different day altogether. The week presents an odd pairing. The defending SEC champion seeks to defend that crown against the defending national champion.

The defending national champion very likely doesn’t have to win that specific game this week to advance to the college football playoff. That’s where the SEC challenger will defend their national crown.

(Scratches head for a second. Makes sure that is right.)

I didn’t name a team in the previous nut graphs for a reason. With circumstances like the ones presented above, the Bulldogs can only be playing that legit college dynasty known as the Alabama Crimson Tide.

In his weekly press session, Smart keep the focus on this game and the players who wear the red and black. He parried and deflected a lot of the expected questions involving:

  • Tua 2018 vs. Tua 2017
  • Tua and Tua and more Tua
  • The challenge of taking on Nick Saban
  • The familiarity of his time spent with the Alabama staff
  • How to slow down Alabama’s juggernaut of an offense
  • Georgia’s role as the underdog this week in the game
  • Motivating factors from the last time the Bulldogs faced Alabama
  • Rational decisions vs. emotional decisions
  • Injury updates for his team

Yet one moment in the press conference broke away from all of those bobs and weaves by the interview speed bag.

It came when Smart did his best to entertain the forum as best he could.

It was simple. It probably defines the matchup for Georgia as anything we will publish on DawgNation this week.

“I’m more worried about how we are going to stop these wideouts and how to stop the quarterback,” Smart said after a question. “I’m not fatigued by this. I’m a lot more concerned with how we are going to play and where we are going to play guys and how we are going to go about doing things.”

That exchange takes place at the 15:31 of the featured video above. He was as gracious as he could be in that moment.

“That’s you guys,” Smart said. “That is ya’lls questions. I get it. You’ve got a job to do. My job is to answer them.”

RELATED: Want to check out some serious UGA-Alabama game week discussion? This thread in the DawgNation forum tees up the good stuff.