Georgia football wants to play in SEC championship game, not be ‘a very scared team’

ATHENS — There is some uncertainty as to when Georgia might next play.

But Kirby Smart spoke very clearly when asked if Georgia might prefer to rest next week instead of playing in the SEC championship game.

“If you worry about injury risk, we won’t practice next week,” Smart said on Friday. “So you live your life scared of injuries, you know what you get? A very scared team.”

Smart did see his team lose its starting center, Drew Bobo, to a lower leg injury during Georgia’s 16-9 win over Georgia Tech.

Yet if there is a chance for Georgia to play in the SEC championship game, even without Bobo, Smart wants to be there.

So to does this Georgia football team, which now sits with an 11-1 record after going 7-1 in SEC play.

“There’s also an opportunity to win an SEC championship,” Smart said. “Does that matter? Does anybody care about that anymore? I mean, I grew up thinking that was the greatest game in the world and just different from everybody else. Yeah, we lost guys today to injury. We’re going to lose guys in practice to injury.But that’. next man up.

Smart didn’t stop there, lamenting the fact that playing in the SEC championship game could be seen as a bad thing.

“Like, that’s what’s wrong with this whole thing now,” Smart said. “It’s like, well, what if you get hurt? What if you do this? What if you do that? I mean, it’s football. It’s all part of it.” 

Georgia knows better than anyone the dangers of playing in the SEC championship game. Last year’s starting quarterback, Carson Beck, suffered a season-ending elbow injury against Texas in the 2024 SEC Championship Game.

Yet that cleared the way for Gunner Stockton to take over as the starting quarterback. He made his first career start in the College Football Playoff loss to Notre Dame.

Of this week’s projected College Football Playoff field, Stockton is the only quarterback to have previously started a College Football Playoff game.

“The (SEC) championship game, I mean, it’s where you want to be at the end of the day and it was a great atmosphere, and that’s where we want to be at the end of the day,” Stockton said.

To get there, Georgia will need either Texas to beat Texas A&M or Auburn to beat Alabama. The Aggies and Crimson Tide are both favored to win but must go on the road and beat a rival.

Georgia did that on Friday, even if the win over Georgia Tech took place in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The Bulldogs move to 11-1 and very certainly clinch a spot in the College Football Playoff field.

As for what’s next, Georgia doesn’t know. It could play next week in the SEC championship game. It could play next month in the first round of the College Football Playoff, with those games scheduled for Dec. 19 and 20th.

It could also have to wait till next year to play, in the event it doesn’t play in the SEC championship game yet still finds a way to get a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff as a top four seed. If Georgia, currently ranked No. 4, holds its seeding, it may have to wait until Jan. 1 to take the field again.

Smart knows all the possible options. He’s asked around about rest and what’s the best way to handle the road ahead.

“The sweet spot is win,” Smart said. “You’ll question what the right decision was, right? There is no right decision. I mean, we talked to coaches all over the place last year that dealt with it, and there was the extended long layoff, there was the nonextended long layoff, there was the Ohio State got hot, and they didn’t play in a (conference) championship. I mean, look, at the end of the day, you gotta do what you feel best about.”

Georgia won on Friday. It will need to keep winning to accomplish its ultimate goal of winning a national championship.

Whether that takes five, four or three more games is out of Georgia’s hands.

Smart laid out Georgia’s plan for next week, as best he can to this point.

The Georgia coach knows that Georgia must keep getting better and above all, keep winning.

“First thing we’ll do is go in, look at our roster, talk to our kids, visit with our kids, get ready for signing day, get recovery, do some lifting,” Smart said. “Do some self-scout, look at some other opponents and see what they’re doing well, how we can maybe grow our encyclopedia of offense and defense, and just continue to get better.”

Kirby Smart doesn’t want Georgia to become ‘a very scared team’