Georgia turns the page to Week 2 with improvement on its mind
ATHENS, Ga. — Improvement is the name of the game this week. While Georgia was dominant in the second half of a 34-3 win over Clemson on Saturday, Kirby Smart knows his team has a long way to go. The head coach is usually that way. In the preseason, he wants to see a big step in the right direction from the first scrimmage to the second. Once games begin, things aren’t all too different. The “pursuit to get better” starts on Monday, and it’s an important one if the Bulldogs want to achieve their goals in 2024.
“I can’t pick one thing on improvement. There was so many things that we’ve got to do better,” Smart told reporters on Monday. “All of it. There’s just a lot there that we want to improve on. Some of what you’re doing is dictated by who you play. People just think it’s a stat game. It’s not a stat game. It’s who you’re lined up across from and how good is that football player because that does dictate things, the matchups.”
Georgia got better as the game went along. The Bulldogs outscored Clemson 28-3 in the second half and were improved offensively. That came with going back and taking a look at what they had done in order to make adjustments.
That same sort of process is likely to play out in Athens this week. Georgia defensive back JaCorey Thomas used the phrase “going to the doctor” that has been thrown around before.
“Today we’re coming in to watch Clemson, clean some things up and worry about the next game,” Thomas said. “You can’t focus on Clemson for too long. That’d be bad.”
“We need to get better every week. There’s always something to fix or something that can be improved on,” he added. “We just have a goal to get better each week.”
Another thing Smart will see is how his team turns the page. Like Thomas said, focusing on the past game for too long wouldn’t be good. Yes, Georgia could probably get by against Tennessee Tech, but the Bulldogs have tougher tests down the road. Coming out of a win too high or a loss too low and carrying that emotion with them into the next week could cost them. Smart is interested to see how this year’s team handles putting the past behind them and focusing on the next task at hand.
“I don’t know that I have this year because we haven’t done it,” Smart said when asked to talk about this year’s team turning the page week to week. “Every team is different and over time they change. I can’t compare 2018 to 2020 to 2022 because the teams are different, the maturity level, the experience level.”
“It does seem that every year we get younger so every year its a great burden and challenge on the older players to set the standard and hold people to how we go about our preparation and putting a game behind us and moving on to the next one,” he continued. “But it’s the same for the coaches and we don’t change how we go week to week. We have a protocol. We have a checklist and we follow that.”
Georgia takes on FCS opponent Tennessee Tech Saturday at Sanford Stadium. The Golden Eagles gave Middle Tennessee all they could handle this past weekend and hope to challenge the top-ranked Bulldogs as well. Kickoff time between the hedges is set for 2:00 p.m. ET, streaming on SEC Network+ and ESPN+
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