ATLANTA — Kirby Smart enjoyed some hard-earned celebrations after Georgia’s 50-30 win in Saturday’s SEC championship game over LSU at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“This win is very satisfying for all of the fans that lasted through the game, came to Atlanta, and took over Atlanta,” said Smart, who has won two SEC titles and a national championship in seven seasons by breaking his record to 79-790000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 fifteen.
Smart is the only coach, along with Steve Spurrier and Nick Saban, to have back-to-back SEC unbeaten seasons since the league split into division games in 1992.
RELATED: Georgia football’s resilience dominates in 50-30 win over LSU in SEC title game
The No. 1 Bulldogs also have their first 13-0 record in school history, and they accomplished the feat a year after a national championship season in which they produced a record 15 NFL draft picks, including five first-rounders.
“There were never any questions for the people in this program,” Smart said. “They never had any doubts, from the (season-opening) Oregon game to playing LSU, that they were ready to come out here and put themselves out there.
“We started the season in Atlanta and now we’ve finished this SEC season in Atlanta.”
And now it looks like Georgia will return to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on December 31 in the CFP Peach Bowl semifinals, likely against TCU (12-1) or Ohio State (11-1).
The Bulldogs secured their first-place finish by coming up with big plays on Saturday, using Christopher Smith’s 96-yard return from a field-goal block in the first quarter to score the first goal, and then on that momentum built to take a 35-10 lead at halftime.
LSU rallied in the third quarter, but a fourth and one stop at the UGA 5-yard line averted a possible rally after the Tigers pulled back within 35-17.
“We came here with the plan to have a connected attack and we wanted our team to play connected,” Smart said.
“That game represented that season: they played incredibly well on spurts, incredibly poorly on spurts, and answered the bell when they had to.”
Stetson Bennett captured MVP honors with a 23-of-29 passing performance that rushed for 274 yards and 4 touchdowns, but the defense gave up 502 yards wide despite second-half starter Jayden Daniels (ankle) Garrett Nussmeier as a backup gave in.
“We didn’t play a really good defense tonight,” admitted Smart.
But the resilience that has characterized this team all season was there once again.
“This was a different group and you guys were trying to name it and figure it out,” Smart said. “You are incomprehensible; they do what they have to do.”
Smart made sure his players understood the lifelong ramifications of this game ahead of the opening game.
“I told our kids I didn’t want a kid leaving our program without a championship ring, and that was going to happen soon,” said Smart, whose other SEC championship game win came over Auburn in 2017.
“They said enough was enough and tonight they got one.”