NEW ORLEANS — The road to the College Football Playoffs was as bumpy as Kirby Smart expected.

Georgia faces Notre Dame at 8:45 p.m. on Wednesday in the Sugar Bowl CFP quarterfinal looking to continue a march toward what would be a third national title in the past four seasons.

This season — with the Bulldogs 11-2 — has hit different from the onset.

“We knew going into this year it would be different,” said Smart, whose Bulldogs overcame a schedule that included six games against teams that reached Top 10 rankings, including three on the road.

“It was more about preparing our team for adversity and accepting that there would be really tough games.”

Smart knew a certain resiliency would be needed, and he conceded on Monday it might have taken a couple of losses to get his team where it needed to be to finish the season with an SEC championship.

“Some of the losses we had made us better, and we won some games at the end that, maybe we don’t win those games if we don’t lose those games earlier,” Smart said.

“I think that was the biggest learning tool for our staff, was not ride that wave of emotion or be worried about outcomes, and be focused on what is our end goal and how do we get there.”

Georgia trailed at halftime in six of its games this season, including its most recent two, down 17-0 at halftime of its 44-42 eight-overtime win over Georgia Tech, and 6-3 to Texas before rallying for the 22-19 overtime victory.

“The number of games was the same, but what’s different is the expectation that you’re going to go out there and just beat every because you’re Georgia, and not have tough games, or in our case, losses,” Smart said.

“You have to be able to rebound from that, and use those losses as growth.”

Smael Mondon, one of the veterans who helped the team win other championships, said the team grew tougher as the season progressed.

“I feel like it shows grit and resilience,” Mondon said. “Just us being able to stay in it when things weren’t going right.”

Smart, to his credit, has not lost back-to-back games since his first season as Georgia’s head coach in 2016.

Nothing has changed from a preparation standpoint, but the level of competition and parity has stepped up as the transfer portal has led to a lack of experienced depth.

“Nobody had as much depth in college football as they had in previous years, they never will again,” Smart said. “There will never be a roster like I got to coach at Alabama (2007-15), where we had three or four guys capable of playing.

“You had sophomore and junior offensive linemen that were waiting their turn to play, but they were NFL talent.”

Smart’s 2021 CFP Championship team set an NFL record with 15 players drafted off of that roster, but many of those players would have been candidates for transferring out and starting elsewhere in their careers had rules been different.

Smart admits it has gotten tougher and tougher to manage a roster and build a team, even as his formula for success has remained the same.

“It’s having a belief in our culture, it’s as simple as keeping our players our players and staying connected,” Smart said. “We believe we are better together than we are apart.”

Smart said a 98 percent retention rate was “pretty normal 10 years ago,” but now “a 70 percent rate” will keep his team among the best in the country.

“We believe as a coaching staff that if you stay in our organization two or three years, you’re going to be a contributor and you’re going to win championships,” Smart said. “We want to keep the glue together.”