Kirby Smart admits having a bye week three weeks into the season feels “a little bit weird.”
That’s understandable.
Historically, Georgia’s lone open date occurred the week before the annual rivalry game in Jacksonville against Florida.
While the Bulldogs can still have a bye before Florida, a week off before next week’s game at Alabama qualifies as different.
Still, as the Bulldogs prepare to catch their breath, the focus this week ahead of their bye was the same as it’s always been.
“It’s always about improvement. I mean, you know, to get better you never rest. We're trying to get better all the time, so I've never had a bye week that I've ever had in all my years coaching that wasn't about improvement,” Smart said. “It's about detailing that improvement and how are you going to attack it.”
There’s been plenty for the Bulldogs to attack.
Last week’s sluggish offensive effort against Kentucky left Smart and his staff much to work on.
Although the Bulldogs managed to fend off the Wildcats 13-12, Smart and his staff spent their preponderance of time focusing on improving and making the sort of corrections that will be necessary if Georgia wants to upend the Crimson Tide.
Per Smart and linebacker Jalon Walker, the Bulldogs did not start diving into game-planning for Alabama until Thursday.
“We're working on us right now. And our typical protocol is to work on all the opponents we have further out,” Smart said during Wednesday’s SEC teleconference.” As the week goes, we begin holding in on that. So, we actually worked on other opponents (Tuesday). We're going to work on some opponents coming up today (Wednesday) and then we begin our Alabama work (Thursday).”
Walker said he couldn’t wait for those preparations to begin.
Like many of his teammates, last year’s loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship that kept the Bulldogs out of the College Football Playoffs left a lot of disappointment.
“I can't wait to prepare for them,” Walker said. “Going back to that last year's game, like I said in the past, it left a bad taste in my mouth. I can't wait to prepare to get ready for that game.”
Whatever success the Bulldogs hope to have starts with containing quarterback Jalon Milroe.
In last year’s SEC Championship, Milroe completed 12 of 23 passes for 193 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing 14 times for 68 yards. He had a long run of 30 yards in the fourth quarter to help put the game away.
“He's a good quarterback,” said Walker, who recoded two of Georgia’s four sacks against Milroe. “He's a good quarterback that has legs and has vision down the field at the same time. That's the new age of a quarterback to come to the NFL as well. I feel like he has a great presence in the pocket. So, getting that pressure and putting it on him helps the secondary a lot more.”
Despite being early, Georgia’s bye week is coming at an opportune time as several injured Bulldogs are receiving an extra week to heal.
That could be especially good news for a defensive line that’s been hit hard by injuries.
Last week, South Carolina transfer Xzavier McLeod was able to play for the first time this year. Next week, it appears Warren Brinson (Achilles) will be a go, with Jordan Hall (stress fracture) trending in a positive direction.
Defensive end Mykel Williams (ankle) appears more of a question mark for the Bulldogs, who will get the weekend off before resuming film work on the Crimson Tide Sunday afternoon.
“If the opponents are on, I'll watch them. I'm not trying to specifically watch them and, like, take notes. I'm not going to do that,” Smart said. “I get all the coaches copy and the game footage. If anything, I'm watching, you know, game management, how people are going about things, maybe what other teams are doing, just enjoying the ability to sit back and watch games.”
