It goes without saying that making the SEC Championship game is a huge accomplishment. Year in and year out, the SEC is the best conference in college football, so just being one of the two representatvies in this title game is a big deal.
Georgia football has grown very familiar with playing in this game as this will be their fourth straight appearance. Texas on the other hand, is playing in their first SEC Championship game which is extremely impressive for it being thier first year in the conference.
Kirby Smart recognized this achievement, and gave the Longhorns a shoutout heading into this weekend's matchup.
"Yeah, they earned it," Smart shared via 247sports.com. "I mean, they played an SEC schedule. They won the most games of any SEC team this year. They have a tremendous program. They're built that way. They're built to do that. They've got a tremendous amount of talent and they've done a great job building to that, recruiting to that, really, that fan base or that team and they've done a great job of that."
Does Texas deserve this respect?
There's no denying that Texas is a really good football team. But do they deserve as much respect as Georgia for making the SEC Championship game? Not even close.
The Bulldogs had to go through a gauntlet of an SEC schedule that included the Longhorns, Alabama, Tennessee and Ole Miss. Texas on the other hand avoided these three teams, and don't even have a win over a team currently ranked in the College Football Playoff rankings.
So sure, props to Texas for making it to Atlanta, but don't let Texas fans get it twisted. They had an easy path to Atlanta, far easier than most other teams in the SEC, and the one big game they played in the SEC they lost, to Georgia.
Maybe that will change on Saturday and Texas will be crowned the SEC Champions. But Georgia is the far more prepared team, and Texas will not have another easy game like they've had all season long.