ATHENS – Kirby Smart knows what to do with the extra preparation time. His Georgia football teams have won an incredible 21 games in a row despite having more than a week to prepare.
That should be good news, as the No. 1-ranked Bulldogs will use this off week to prepare for a crucial matchup with No. 4-ranked Alabama on Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m.
“Better never rests, we are constantly trying to get better,” Smart said, sharing his overall philosophy on what extra preparation time means for his two-time national championship program.
“It’s about laying out that improvement in detail and saying how you’re going to address it.”
Apart from Smart’s general approach, provisions are made for each individual circumstance.
“Are you going to do the same thing every year that you’ve been doing? Well, you might not have the same team,” Smart explained this week. “You might not have the same special teams. You might have different needs from year to year.”
“It doesn’t all depend on Kentucky. It depends on Tennessee Tech. It depends on Clemson. It depends on injuries. It depends on improvement. And we change the schedules every off week to fit our needs.”
Current state of affairs
Georgia’s biggest need heading into the season is its banged-up defensive line. Injuries caused starters Mykel Williams and Warren Brinson to miss the game against Kentucky – and UGA slipped to 46th in the national running back rankings.
UK defensive line starters Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins (63 snaps), Christen Miller (58) and Nazir Stackhouse (52) played an exceptional number of snaps.
“This is not normal for us,” Smart admitted. “We would like to rotate at this position, we want to stay fresh.”
Smart expressed optimism this week that Brinson and Williams – who can play tackle or end – will be ready for Alabama as the junior players develop quickly.
“We’re in a much better position — we have young defensive linemen who are getting better and better,” Smart said. “I think Jamaal Jarrett (5 snaps) and Xzavier McCleod (15) did a good job of taking some of the pressure off those guys and probably could have done more, but neither of them had much to do….
“That’s one of the things that feels a lot better in this off week with the guys doing reps.”
Behind the numbers
Smart has won 10 straight games following an off week since suffering his only loss following an off week in his first season as UGA head coach (2016, a 24-10 loss to Florida).
Georgia has also won 16 consecutive games in its opponent’s stadiums, starting with a loss at Alabama in 2020, when it lost 41-24 to the eventual national champion Crimson Tide.
It was a loss that had less to do with preparation – Georgia led 24-20 at halftime at Bryant-Denny Stadium – than with Stetson Bennett’s limitations in his first season as he began this Covid-affected season.
Alabama turned two interceptions into touchdown drives in the third quarter to take control of the game on a night when Bennett – making just his third career start – had five passes intercepted at the line of scrimmage.
Crowd noise and hostile sounds apparently haven’t affected Georgia’s offense under Smart – the Bulldogs work on crowd noise all season long, not just during off weeks.
Kirby’s Secrets for the Game-Free Week
Sam Pittman has led Arkansas to eight straight wins since his second season as head coach of the Razorbacks with more than a week of preparation.
Pittman said he took the same bye-week approach as Smart, having worked under him at Georgia as offensive line coach and assistant head coach before taking the job at Arkansas.
“We’ve adopted that model here, too, and I don’t think we’ve lost a game on an off week (recently),” Pittman said Wednesday. “I don’t know if (the approach) is unique, and I’m pretty sure Kirby doesn’t want me to share it, so I won’t.”
However, Pittman was able to point out that Smart’s approach includes many components.
“It’s a time to get your kids healthy, it’s also a time to prepare for your opponent and a time to practice with the kids that don’t play quite as much,” Pittman said. “The bottom line is that Coach (Smart) does an outstanding job in all phases…
“He understands his staff and his team wonderfully and knows who to keep working on and who not to,” Pittman said. “I think Coach Smart knows his team and the mentality that they have as well as anyone in America, and I think if you give him another week to watch footage of an opponent, he’s very, very dangerous.”
“I would imagine that all these things combined are the reason for his great success.”
Alabama’s week off is approaching
Kalen DeBoer also had a great winning streak and had more than a week to prepare for the games.
DeBoer has won 11 straight in his first season at Alabama between his time at Fresno State, Washington and now at Alabama, since a loss to Hawaii in the season opener in 2020, his first year as a head coach in the FBS ranks.
“Our job is to continue to put them in the best positions and help them gain the confidence that preparation will lead to their success,” DeBoer said at the start of Alabama’s open week.
“We will do that here in the week without games and use a few days here just to relax.”
DeBoer pointed out that his Tide players have worked hard since the start of fall camp and need time to recover.
“Relax a little bit,” he said. “These guys have been here for seven weeks now. I know it’s only been three games this season, but as far as training goes, they’ve been here for seven weeks as of (Tuesday).”
School work is also a priority, said the new head coach.
“This little time here where they can take care of school and catch up, or just make sure they’re on track and continue to work and get that done in the non-football areas as well,” DeBoer said, “so they can do what they love and not get distracted. Thursday and Friday we’ll go back to the practice field.”
The Georgia players’ week off
Smart sent tailback Trevor Etienne and linebackers Chaz Chambliss and Jalon Walker out to speak to the media on Tuesday.
Each of the team leaders delivered their own messages about what Georgia needs to do during the off week.
“We didn’t play Georgian football,” said Etienne. “Our biggest problem is execution, which is something we can do better as a team in all three phases.”
Walker, who is coming off a game in which he pressured the quarterback eight times, said Georgia’s defense, which has not allowed a single touchdown in three games, could be even better.
“We need to improve on our tackling, we had a poor tackling game,” Walker said. “The teams we’ve had in the past have been better at tackling … so in our off week we’ll have better shots and footwork and be in a position to apply pressure and track.”
“We call it a doctor’s visit, and that’s what we did. We went to the doctor to find out what was wrong, and that was our tackle.”
Chambliss, one of four experienced defenders, stressed that the young players need to make the most of the extra work they receive during the off week.
“I think we always want to see improvement in depth — it’s SEC ball, we’ve got a long way to go, it’s a long schedule, it’s a tough schedule,” Chambliss said. “We need younger guys stepping up and guys filling positions.”
“You can’t predict when people will be out, we need depth in every single position. That’s what we’re trying to convey to the young guys now, that they have to prepare now, it’s not time to wait until next year.”
Indeed, the momentum of the season opener is on the line in Tuscaloosa, and Smart and his players are determined to make the most of every practice leading up to the Sept. 28 showdown.
Kirby’s 21-game winning streak with more than a week of preparation
Season 2019
At Vanderbilt, 30-0, Nashville, August 31
At Tennessee, 43-14, Knoxville, October 5
Against Florida, 24-17, Jacksonville, November 2
Against Baylor, 26-14, New Orleans, January 1, 2020
2020
At Arkansas, 37-10, Fayetteville, September 26th
At Kentucky, 14-3, Lexington, October 31st
Against Mississippi St., 31-24, Athens, November 21
In Missouri, 49-14, Columbia, December 12
Against Cincinnati, 24-21, Atlanta, January 1, 2021
2021
Against Clemson, 10-3, Charlotte, NC, September 4
Versus Florida, 34-7, Jacksonville, Oct. 30
Against Michigan, 34-11, Miami Gardens, December 31
Versus Alabama, 33-18, Indianapolis, January 10, 2022
2022
Against Oregon, 49-3, Atlanta, September 3
Against Florida, 42-20, Jacksonville, October 29
Against Ohio State, 42-41, Atlanta, December 31
Against TCU, 65-7, Inglewood, January 9, 2023
2023
Against UT-Martin, 48-7, Athens, September 2
Against Florida, 43-20, Jacksonville, October 28
Against Florida State, 63-3, Miami Gardens, December 30
2024
Against Clemson, 34-3, Atlanta, August 31
In Alabama, Tuscaloosa, September 28th
