One of the best parts of the postseason in college football is all the time fans have to compare their favorite team to their opponent. Georgia football fans have been able to do that for a long time now as they waited to see who their opponent in the College Football Playoff would be. And now that they know the Bulldogs will face Notre Dame on Jan. 1, they can really start looking to see where Georgia has advantages compared to the Irish.
And while Georgia fans will never want to admit that Notre Dame has any sort of advantage over UGA, the fact of the matter is that Notre Dame is really good and are better in certain areas than Georgia. Even Kirby Smart knows this and he recently discussed on thing that does benefit the Irish over his Bulldogs.
"That's the bigger dilemma," Smart shared via 247sports.com. "Do you lose rhythm? I mean, you watch it most times in ballgames. People that have those long breaks, it can affect how you play, and we're trying our best to manage that."
Smart thinks the extended time off could hurt Georgia
Most people tend to think having a lot of time off before a game is a good thing, and in certain aspects it definitely is. The biggest reason is that a team can get healthy, which is especially true for this Georgia team who has dealt with a lot of injuries all season.
But on the flip side, a lot of time off can cause a team to lose rhythm which Smart mentioned. This won't be a problem for Notre Dame who just beat Indiana a few days ago, but UGA will almost have a month off between their SEC Championship win and Sugar Bowl game against the Irish. So while this time off will benefit them with injuries, it will hurt them when it comes to being able to function in a game setting which is vastly different from anything you do in practice.
On the bright side for Georgia, they are used to having this much time off before the CFP or bowl season begins because they have a long gap in their schedule every season. So hopefully Smart and his staff know how to manage this, so they can minimize this small advantage the Irish have as much as possible.