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AUSTIN, Texas — For a guy who says he doesn’t watch the ESPN talking heads, Kirby Smart sure seemed to know a lot about what those talking heads said regarding his team this week.
Mostly, they said Smart’s Georgia Bulldogs wouldn’t beat No. 1 Texas.
Georgia bottled up that doubt and turned it into fuel.
“Our whole program was being doubted,” Smart said Saturday after No. 4 Georgia’s 30-15 victory that quieted critics. “I mean, did you watch the show this morning?”
That show he’s referencing is ESPN’s “College GameDay,” and the vote on that pregame program went unanimous, 5-0, in favor of Texas winning this game.
Smart said he busied himself in morning meetings and didn’t watch “GameDay,” but he received “8,000 texts about it.”
“Somebody was doubting us,” Smart said.
A lot of somebodies.
And that’s when Georgia thrives.
“No flinch,” Smart said of his team. “They’re not backing down.”
Georgia football dines on doubt, feasts on Texas
Two years ago, Georgia’s Nolan Smith memorably chirped to a reporter after the Bulldogs repeated as national champions that the undefeated season proved people wrong who thought Georgia would finish 7-5. Who those people were, nobody knows, because Georgia opened that 2022 season ranked No. 3.
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Throughout that season, Smart and quarterback Stetson Bennett IV also played up the idea of Georgia being doubted, even though the Bulldogs were on the shortlist of teams expected to vie for the national championship.
It became almost impossible for Georgia to use doubt as a lightning rod last season, because the Bulldogs were ranked No. 1 for three straight months before losing to Alabama in the SEC Championship.
Then, Georgia opened…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/kirby-smart-dines-doubt-georgia-122750513.html
Author : USA TODAY Sports
Publish date : 2024-10-20 12:27:50
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