‘Job’s not finished’ Orange Bowl was Step 1 for Bulldogs
National title game versus Alabama looms
His players tried to get their coach involved in the celebration, attempted to lift a Gatorade cooler over his head as is customary after big wins.
But Kirby Smart wasn’t having any of it.
The third-ranked Georgia Bulldogs’ win on Friday, a convincing 34-11 victory over No. 2 Michigan in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Orange Bowl, was just the first step in the grander plan.
Georgia still has another game to play, another win to achieve.
The final test: A rematch of the one game the Bulldogs lost this season.
No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 3 Georgia, Jan. 10 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Alabama won the first matchup, 41-24 in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game on Dec. 4.
Whoever wins a little more than a week from now gets the more important trophy, the one both teams are striving to obtain — Alabama going for its fourth title in the eight years of the College Football Playoff format (and eighth title overall in 15 years under Nick Saban), Georgia trying to win its first national championship since 1980.
So no, Smart was not in the mood to celebrate.
Not yet at least.
“I was wanting to get a real shower, not a Gatorade bath, because I want to get focused on Alabama,” Smart said. “They got a five-, sixhour head start. To be honest with you guys, I’m not interested in celebrating that. We’ll look back on that win and that’ll be great, but we’re focused on the task ahead.”
His players understand that, too.
So even though they donned hats and T-shirts postgame that read “champs” and threw oranges and had
their moment of fun while a medley of songs ranging from Queen’s “We are the Champions” to Ray Charles’ “Georgia on My Mind” blared throughout Hard Rock Stadium, the focus remained on the ultimate goal.
“There’s definitely one more game,” linebacker Nakobe Dean said. “Champs not at all. Job’s not finished. We didn’t do our everything we did this whole season just to win the Orange Bowl. “Job’s not finished.”
But the job did start with their performance at Hard Rock Stadium, a requisite to get to that final chapter of the season.
“It was a one-game season,” Smart said, “and now it’s another one-game season.”
Georgia needed to respond from its blowout loss to Alabama a little more than three weeks prior was a blip on the radar during a season in which so much went right.
But in doing so, the Bulldogs placed the emphasis on beating Michigan — not necessarily trying to redeem themselves for how they performed against Alabama.
“We always say you can’t let a loss beat you twice,” Smart said, “and we didn’t let that happen.”
Instead, Georgia put together one of its most complete performances of the year — and will need to replicate that success (and most likely build on it) when it faces the Crimson Tide.
It will need another quality performance from quarterback
Stetson Bennett, who completed 21 of 31 passes for 310 yards and three touchdowns against Michigan on Friday.
It will need another sound game from its offensive line, which held a feisty Michigan front seven led by Heisman Trophy runner-up Aidan Hutchinson without a sack for the first time all season. Georgia gave up three sacks and six tackles for loss against Alabama.
And it will need its defense to play up to its standards as one of the country’s best. Outside of the SEC Championship Game, the Bulldogs have held every opponent to 17 points or fewer with three shutouts in the mix.
“You can list all the things we did in the last game (against Alabama),” Smart said. “That’s all our kids have heard about for three weeks.”
They’ll be hearing about it again for the next nine days as they prepare for Round 2.
This time, though, it’ll be for a national championship.
“As a football player, you’re ready to go out there regardless of what game it is,” cornerback Derion Kendrick said. “We’re ready to go play regardless of who the opponent is. It just so happens it’s Alabama who beat us. We’ve got to go back and clean up on some things we did and just review over the film and just do what we do.”
And if they do that and pull off that final win, maybe — just maybe — a Gatorade bath will be in order for their head coach.