Kirby Smart evaluates Georgia’s hard-fought win over Auburn

Georgia had to battle back and forth with Auburn last weekend in order to leave Jordan-Hare Stadium with a win, defeating the Tigers 27-20 to keep their record perfect on the season.

Their performance may not have been as dominant as we’ve seen in the past, as the Bulldogs defeated Auburn 42-10 a season ago. But Georgia head coach Kirby Smart was still passionate and energetic following the win, even throwing his visor into the stands. Following the game, he spoke about the meaningfulness of the game and what he saw from his team.

“They all matter, they all feel good. I mean we put so much into this, 16, 18-hour days for five, six, seven days, these kids work really hard,” Smart said. “There’s a lot of build-up and then when you have a situation when you’re behind, I don’t know how many times it felt like we were behind the whole game, and you come back and win on the road, it says something about your team and your character.”

The Bulldogs found themselves down early, as the Tigers struck first and ended the first quarter with a 10-0 lead. But Georgia had counterpunch, scoring 10 points of their own to tie the game at half.

Both teams would go on to exchange a touchdown and a field goal in the second half, until quarterback Carson Beck would lead a seven-play, 75-yard drive capped off by a 40-yard touchdown pass to Brock Bowers to break the game’s tie and secure the win.

“Nobody panicked, and I don’t know how good of a team we got, I really don’t. I don’t sit here and proclaim we’ve got some unbelievable team. But I do think our team believes in each other, we connect, we step up when we need to step up, but we can’t keep turning the ball over,” Smart said.

Talent hasn’t been an issue on Georgia’s roster in recent history, and that paired with the consistent toughness, physicality, and discipline that’s been baked into their culture by Smart has made them the most dominant team in college football the past two seasons.

As Smart mentioned, turnovers have been an issue lately for the Bulldogs who had two turnovers versus the Tigers and three in their previous matchup against UAB. The Bulldogs will likely need to clean up their turnovers this weekend, as they face a Kentucky team that’s also undefeated and ranks third in the SEC in forced turnovers this season.

Georgia and Kentucky square off on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. ET in a game airing on ESPN.

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