Georgia football probably wanted to play much better than they did, but they were able to survive with a 24-20 victory over Florida on Saturday night. This win was critical for Georgia because a loss would have essentially ended their season. But the Bulldogs did what they usually do and found a way to beat Florida for the fifth year in a row.
Kirby Smart was asked what this win means for the team during his postgame press conference, and Smart used one word to describe how much it will help them going forward.
"It creates confidence, I mean, it's a good team," Smart said via 247sports.com. "It's the next step in the puzzle."
Kirby Smart shares why beating Florida was so important
Smart chose to use the word "confidence" when describing what this win does for Georgia this season. And it's easy to see why UGA should gain a lot of confidence after this victory.
Georgia by no means played their best game on Saturday, and when that happens any team in the SEC is capable of knocking UGA off. But Georgia didn't let that happen. They put their heads down, stayed focused on the task at hand, and did just enough to emerge with a big victory.
This win puts Georgia in perfect position when it comes to the College Football Playoff. The first CFP rankings will be released on Tuesday, and the Bulldogs should expect to be in the top five. This means they can afford to lose another game this year and still make the playoff, something that wouldn't have been true if they lost to Florida.
Georgia does still need some help to make it to the SEC Championship game, but that doesn't feel as important right now. The Bulldogs have all the confidence in the world to make a run in the College Football Playoff, now they just need to go out and execute the rest of the season.