One of the biggest keys to success for Georgia football moving forward doesn’t have anything to do with how they play on the field. Their biggest key is remaining as humble as possible to avoid getting overly confident and falling short of the main goal of winning a national title.
The Dawgs have a good enough offense and an elite defense that can achieve this goal. However, will this group be able to shut out the noise of College Football Playoff rankings, the media constantly telling them they are great, and everything else they go through as a team that is 8-0 and ranked No.1?
So far this season, the answer has seemed to be yes. Have there been some moments where they didn’t do everything perfectly? Yes, but they’re human, and no team is 100% perfect.
Head coach Kirby Smart put it in perspective during one of his press conferences this week, and he dropped the mic.
This first set of College Football Playoff rankings that dropped on Tuesday do not mean anything in terms of winning it all. Remember when Mississippi State ranked No.1 in 2014 after the first initial rankings? Yeah, us too.
Of the seven seasons, there has only been one team that ranked No.1 in the initial rankings that went on to win a national title — last year’s Alabama team.
Smart knew this stat because his 2017 group was one of the No.1 teams initially ranked that didn’t win the title.
He asked the reporters why only one team won it after the first playoff rankings? Smart didn’t hold back, and when we say mic drop, it is indeed a mic drop.
"“It’s pretty easy, because it either went to their head, it affected them,” Smart said in his Tuesday press conference. “They didn’t continue to grow and get better and the narrative out there will be people will say I’m not saying this because I certainly don’t think it’s true at all.“But the narrative is what distorts young people’s minds and they read on social media and things that there’s this upper echelon of teams, and then there’s this other group, and I don’t think that’s the case at all.”"
So how can Georgia avoid history, and what usually happens to these teams that rank No.1 in Week 10? Staying humble and working hard to get better each week is what Smart thinks.
He has this culture implemented where the team doesn’t feel they are good enough yet, which is an excellent way to think. The harder they work, the better they get, and a coach wants his best team when a title is on the line at the end of the season.
Smart talked about how he truly believes any team in the Top 10-15 is more than capable of beating a team any given Saturday.
The mindset of treating each game like its own mini national title is the way to go. No opponent should be looked past or treated differently. Whether it’s Charleston Southern or Alabama, they all get played against like the Tide.
Georgia has to go into Knoxville and beat a Tennessee team who will be chomping at the bits to ruin the Dawgs perfect record. While that may seem hard in this society because everyone constantly has their phones stuck in their faces, this team must remain focused.
"“I told them they could tune in and watch the Braves, but there’s no need to watch the other because that’s not what’s important and it’s distorted at least six other team’s’ minds enough for them not to make it there,” Smart said in his Tuesday press conference."
Georgia’s players need to listen to their head coach because he has been a part of four national title teams. He knows what it takes to win it all, but his group has to make the personal sacrifice if they want to do it too. If these players wish to win the national title, training their willpower will only make them want it more.
They must avoid the talk and hype — put themselves in their own world they refuse to step out of until they win it all in January. There is so much to lose in the next few weeks, so the Dawgs must find a way to shut it all out and focus on getting better each week.
Forget records and rankings — focus on winning and move on to the next game until there isn’t anyone left in their way.