For the first time all season Georgia showed some cracks in their armor. It didn't last all game, but Georgia had some moments where they struggled against Vanderbilt on Saturday. Kirby Smart however believes it is actually a good thing that this happened.
Georgia's early struggles against Vanderbilt ultimately ended up not impacting the outcome of the game as they still won 38-14, but Georgia faced some adversity against Vanderbilt for the first time all season.
Georgia was never challenged in their first four games this season. In each game they jumped out to a big lead early in the game and never looked back. This even occurred against Oklahoma last week who is the best team they've played so far this season as Georgia led the Sooners 28-0 at halftime.
Vanderbilt was a different story though as they played Georgia tough in the first half. They didn't have an answer for Georgia's offense who played well the entire game, but Georgia's defense did not play great in the first half. Vanderbilt was able to move the ball up and down the field throughout the first half and took advantage of some uncharacteristic mistakes by Georgia's defense.
This kept the game closer than expected through the first half which adds pressure on both the offense and defense, and that adversity is something that Kirby Smart thinks will help Georgia in the long run.
"Every team needs adversity. You get better with adversity."
— DawgNation (@DawgNation) October 3, 2026
The Dawgs finally faced some adversity against Vanderbilt and they passed the test. #godawgs #dawgnation pic.twitter.com/9ufgGGcGXY
Georgia will benefit from Vanderbilt challenging them in this game
Georgia won their first four games this season without breaking a sweat, that trend was going to end at some point though. The Bulldogs play at Alabama next week which undoubtedly will be an extremely difficult game, so in reality it is probably a good thing that Vanderbilt challenged them this week.
If Georgia dominated Vanderbilt the entire game on Saturday then they would've gone five games without facing any amount of adversity. You learn a lot about how good a team actually is when their opponent lands a couple punches, and Vanderbilt landed more than a few in the first half. Georgia however responded and threw punches of their own, and in the second half they handled their business and ran away from Vandy like everyone expected.
Georgia was better off facing adversity for the first time against Vanderbilt this week than against Alabama next week. The Bulldogs knew they were a much better team than Vanderbilt, so even if the Commodores were competitive in the first half Georgia probably had confidence they'd still be able to easily pull away in the second half. Nothing will come easy against Alabama next week, so if they faced adversity for the first time on the road against the Tide who knows how they would've responded.
Georgia will become a better football team because Vanderbilt challenged them in the first half. Fans probably wanted to see Georgia dominate Vanderbilt for all 60 minutes, but Kirby Smart knows that facing adversity on Saturday will help his team get even better in the long run.
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