Kirby Smart talks Georgia football season-opener vs Clemson
Georgia is looking to run the table this year and make its way to the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2017.
In order to do that, the Bulldogs will have to get past the mighty Clemson Tigers in the season-opening game in Charlotte.
What’s sure to be a top-five matchup, the game was recently announced as ESPN’s College GameDay’s destination for the opening weekend.
With so much time to prepare for the game – all offseason – Smart was asked what his team is doing to get ready to take on the powerhouse program that is Clemson.
“There’s only so much you can do to prepare for a game,” Smart said Tuesday. “If anything you can over-prepare. But we’ve done a lot of things in spring. We’ve worked on opponents in spring, including Clemson. We’ve worked in the offseason. We tried to do a game week preparation prior to getting to game week, but you don’t exactly know what you have. We don’t know how these transfer players and our freshmen and sophomores who didn’t get spring practice, how they’re going to fit into the pieces. So we got to find out what we have before we worry about stopping somebody else or scoring or somebody.
Got a lot of respect for Clemson, Dabo’s program. They’ve done a tremendous job. They’ve been one of the premier programs in the country. So we embrace these opportunities to play these games. It is why you want to come to Georgia. We want to play one of these every year so we’re excited for this one.”
The game does not get much bigger than this. Georgia has been a top-five for the last few seasons and Clemson a title contender for the last decade. With that being said, both teams will be absolutely fired up for this one.
“They’re looking at Georgia, an SEC opponent, somebody that everybody talks about,” Smart said. “They want a shot at that. Both teams will be motivated to go win. It’s what college football is about, as well as our fans. I just can’t wait to get back into a fully-packed stadium in pads.”
