The Georgia Bulldogs accomplished a feat that does not happen frequently in college football last season when they beat the same team twice in one year. After beating the Texas Longhorns in their stadium in 2024, the Bulldogs beat the Longhorns in a thrilling SEC Championship that went into overtime.
Ahead of Georgia's home matchup against Texas on Saturday, it is easy to assume that the mentality of Georgia would be to continue their dominance over the blue blood program. However, Kirby Smart's recent comments reveal their mentality is completely different.
Kirby Smart, Georgia have a new mindset vs Texas this year
In a recent press conference, Smart revealed that Georgia's wins over Texas last season has "zero effect" on Saturday's game. Coach Smart stated, "This team (Georgia) didn't beat Texas, and Texas hasn't played this team of ours," Smart said. "These are two completely different teams, in my opinion. I think it has zero effect on it."
This response by Smart should be of no shock to any Bulldog fan. Georgia's mentality ever since Smart took over 10 years ago has been to take their season one opponent at a time. In Georgia's eyes, they are looking at this game and this game only. The past does not matter, nor should it.
Georgia going into 2025 was last in the SEC in returning production. Likewise, Texas was the third worst in the conference. More specifically, these two programs have two brand new starting quarterbacks in Arch Manning and Gunner Stockton. Both quarterbacks play vastly different than their predecessors and add new challenges to both defenses.
As blue blood programs do, both Texas and Georgia rebuilt their rosters to become contenders despite the lost production. It is of no shock that these two teams are back to playing for high stakes in what could determine the entire College Football Playoff. With these stakes in play, it should comfort Georgia fans to know that this UGA team will be focused and prepared for the task at hand.