Kirby Smart confident Georgia will be 'excited' for Florida State

Kirby Smart’s Georgia Bulldogs didn’t get the result they wanted on Selection Sunday. Coming in at No. 6 after an SEC Championship Game loss to Alabama on Saturday, Georgia founds itself on the outside looking in of the College Football Playoffs for the first time since 2020.

Still, Smart seems confident that his team will be ready to roll for what comes next. Selected for the 90th edition of the Orange Bowl, the Bulldogs are set to take on Florida State at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. on the afternoon of December 30th.

“We at the University of Georgia are honored and excited to get to go down to sunny South Florida and are looking forward to an incredible environment. Although obviously our players are very disappointed today with the outcome of our game last night, we are looking forward to this opportunity,” Smart shared during a virtual joint coaches press conference Sunday evening. “I don’t think there’s another team that we would love to be able to go compete against more than Florida State.”

The Seminoles finished the season unbeaten and winners of the ACC, defeating Louisville for the conference crown Saturday night in Charlotte. Still, their efforts were not enough to keep them in the top four of the committee’s eyes, setting up the matchup of the first two teams out.

“It should be a great matchup. Two giants in College Football across history and recently. I always worry about when you get in bowl games with the matchups you get to have, so this matchup is really exciting,” Smart said. “I know our players were pumped and excited when they found out today who we get to play. And the Orange Bowl is one of the best we’ve ever been to in terms of the sunshine and the beach and getting to enjoy it being in sunny South Florida … I think of all the bowl games we could be in outside of the Playoffs, this is where our kids would have loved to have been.”

Of course with any non-College Football Playoff bowl game there’s the concern over motivation. Smart and his staff have dealt with it before though, and seem to have figured out the right approach to a game that in the grand scheme of things doesn’t mean all too much.

“We had a year, the Texas year (2019 Sugar Bowl), where it was a struggle. It was tough. There was a lot of disappointment I think. We took the motto of, ‘You’re either in or you’re out. It’s simple. We’re going to go compete, go practice, get after it after a long, tough, grueling year with a championship week on top of it. This is what we’re going to do, and you’re going to buy into it or not.’ That’s how teams win. You have to be committed to the cause and be all in on it,” Smart said. “If you’re wondering or trying to decide, you probably don’t need to be.”

“We’ve got a really high character football team, a bunch of fun guys to coach. The guys that want to play in it and continue with us, they’re going to enjoy that,” he continued. “We’ll have guys that go into the portal and guys where the future is brighter for them maybe at other places. That’s what the portal is for. We’ll lose some guys like everybody in the country will, but the guys that come back, there will be a commitment to getting ready and getting better.”

Smart added that with the opt outs and transfer portal entries, the bowl game can offer an opportunity to see a glimpse of what the team might look like next season. There’s a set of bowl practices to get better and turn the page to developing for the future.

“It’s not just about this game, it’s about the practices that you get to have for this game. A lot of guys are going to be guys that play for us next year that get 15 practices to get ready where it’s almost like an extra spring practice. Not to mention the mid-years that come in and get to practice with you too,” Smart said. “This is a tremendous time to develop and get better, and we’re going to do all we can to get our team in the best shape to be ready to go compete against Florida State.”

Smart indicated that conversations for potential transfer portal entries have been happening for a few weeks now with the portal officially opening on Monday. Meanwhile, conversations about opting out for the purpose of preserving NFL Draft stock will likely take place. At this time, no players have made their intentions of opting out known while one (Darris Smith) has entered the transfer portal.