Kirby Smart shares what will be key for Georgia in Alabama rematch

If it wants to finally get over the hump and beat Alabama while also capturing the College Football Playoff national championship in the process, Georgia is going to have to play significantly better in its rematch against the Crimson Tide next Monday night.

Coming off a 41-24 loss to Alabama in the SEC championship game back on Dec. 4, the Bulldogs certainly weren’t at their best in that contest. They only trailed 24-17 at halftime, but were then outscored 17-7 in the second half to lose by 17. The Tide held Georgia to under 450 yards of offense and forced Stetson Bennett to throw a pair of interceptions.

Heading into the second meeting of the season between the Bulldogs and Alabama in the College Football Playoff national championship, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart was asked how he and his team are approaching the big rematch with the Crimson Tide.

“When you’re playing a rematch game, I think a lot can go into it in terms of you’ve got to be careful because you’ve got things and games in your breakdown that might change this game in terms of we didn’t have the SEC championship game, obviously, in our breakdown, then the playoff game,” Smart said. “And what tendencies changed, what matchups we’re looking for, who is in, who is out.

“There’s a lot of things that go into it. But at the end of the day, you’re really not as worried about what they’re doing; you’re worried about what you’re doing – and how well you can do that is the most important part.”

No. 1 ranked Alabama and No. 3 Georgia are scheduled to kickoff at 8 p.m. ET Monday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, with ESPN carrying the national broadcast. The Bulldogs are three-point favorites, with the over/under currently set at 52 total points.

Stetson Bennett: ‘I’m preparing my butt off’ for Alabama

Heading into Monday night’s game, Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett made it clear that he’s working hard to prepare for facing Alabama again. After completing 29-of-48 passes for 340 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions in his last outing against the Tide, it’s no secret that Bennett would like to clean up his play some – especially in the national championship game.

“I’m just treating it as another game and I’m preparing my butt off, and everybody on this team is,” Bennett said. “But the reason we’re doing that is because we respect the heck out of Alabama and the team they are. And we know we’ll have to give it our best shot to win this game.”