Kirby Smart reveals how Georgia's offense has helped the defense

The Georgia Bulldogs could be considered the surprise of the college football season thus far even though they’re ranked No. 1 in the nation. The defense is a surprise because few thought they could replicate the same production as they did in their historic 2021 run. Still, the Bulldogs have sent out the NCAA’s top defense through three weeks. However, it’s Georgia’s offense that has now made them even more of a juggernaut and Kirby Smart knows it.

Smart talked about his team’s improved offensive output during his press conference on Tuesday. He says their offense has changed the way teams have to play them and has made life easier on the defense.

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“I think that the lead, the scoring on offense has made other offenses play us differently. We haven’t been in one of those (close) kinds of games yet,” said Smart. “When you get into a two-score, three-score lead, sometimes it puts a lot of pressure on the other side of the ball. The offense allows you to play looser at times on defense.”

Georgia is averaging 43.3 points per game to open 2022, which is good for 17th best in the nation. They’ve done it against solid competition too in Oregon and South Carolina.

Smart realizes the impact that this offense has had on his defense. It’s not just because they help give them such a lead to work with. It’s also because they’ve made them better in practice to this point by providing them with a real challenge.

“Our guys go against that offense every day so it definitely prepares us better to go against good people. But our defense is preparing every day like they’re getting ready to play the best offense ever because we know that they can be it at any time in the future,” said Smart.

Iron sharpens iron and that’s exactly what’s going on down in Athens. The Bulldogs keeping pace defensively was already a bit of a shock. Their offense coming as far as they have has combined with that to make Georgia the runaway favorite to start the season. Few teams could dream of matching what Kirby Smart’s team is producing on both sides of the football. Now, everyone is curious to see if both of them can keep this pace for the duration.