ATHENS — Kirby Smart was talking tough earlier this week, a calculated move from a veteran coach who knows his players.
These Georgia Bulldogs needed a boost, of something, with a rival Georgia Tech coming to Sanford Stadium for tonight’s 7:30 p.m. kick.
“This is a strap-it-on, strike somebody in the mouth, keys, fits kind of game,” Smart said, challenging his defense to hunker down.
And then, Smart said: “We have to have a seeking-contact attitude and enjoying of a street fight, and no everybody loves that, so it’s one of those things you find out a lot about yourself when you get to play a really physical football team like (Tech).”
Consider it a reminder for a Georgia defense that used to know how to talk with its pads.
Consider, UGA has three projected Top 15 picks in the upcoming NFL Draft, not including two senior defensive tackles and a senior linebacker all with CFP Championship Game experience.
But there have been times it has looked like — felt like — something is missing in this Georgia defense.
Forget about all the Carson Beck talk — the UGA quarterback has righted himself of late, making the most of a thinned-out skill position supporting cast.
The Georgia Tech game will be all about the defense setting the tone — as Georgia players from past years used to say, “If they don’t score, they can’t win.”
Do these Bulldogs have the attitude and self-induced pressure those that came before them?
Flashback to 2019, when team captain and middle linebacker Monty Rice was going off in the postgame locker room after a 21-14 win at Auburn,
“Having 10 tackles didn’t mean anything,” Rice said, “I”m pissed at the one I missed at the end when Bo Nix got me rocking a little bit and was able to score.”
That Georgia defense had played nine games without allowing a rushing touchdown, the first streak of its kind in 20 years.
This Bulldogs’ defense has not approached that sort of success.
Part of the reason, certainly, has been a hellacious schedule featuring one playoff contender after another: Clemson, Alabama, Texas, Ole Miss, Tennessee ….
But when a 2-8 UMass scored 21 points on Georgia last week — 14 in the first half, and another touchdown in the third quarter — it caught some off guard.
Maybe even Smart, which could explain his tough talk earlier this week.
The Georgia head football coach clearly is working to infuse his passion and pride into the team with an upset-minded — and very capable — Yellow Jackets team looking to sting their in-state rivals.
The result will tell the tale of how these Bulldogs leaders, some surely playing in their final home game in Sanford Stadium, will be remembered.
Georgia rushing defense rank
*2020 was SEC-only reg. Season
2024 38th, 124.5
2023 18th, 113.6
2022 1st, 77.1
2021 2nd, 64.8
2020 1st, 72.3*
2019 1st, 74.6
2018 31st, 134.0
2017 20th, 126.0
2016 36th, 143.7
Georgia total defense rank
*2020 was SEC-only reg. season
2024 15th, 311.1
2023 9th, 289.1
2022 9th, 296.8
2021 2nd, 268.9
2020 12th, 321.0*
2019 3rd, 275.7
2018 13th, 314.3
2017 6th, 294.9
2016 16th, 327.5
Georgia scoring defense rank
*2020 was SEC-only reg. season
2024 17th, 18.55
2023 5th, 15.6
2022 5th, 14.3
2021 1st, 10.2
2020 16th, 20.0*
2019 1st, 12.6
2018 15th, 19.2
2017 6th, 16.4
2016 35th, 24.0
