Column: Time to stop talking and play the game

LOS ANGELES – Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley and Georgia’s Kirby Smart resembled two cast members of the Walking Dead sitting atop the podium during Sunday’s final press conference here at the L.A. Downtown Hotel.

Eyes glazed, expressionless … you know the type.

One can’t really blame them.

Being just two of four teams still alive for a national championship is certainly quite the feat. But after a nearly month-long buildup to Monday’s Rose Bowl, both coaches – much like their players on Saturday – are ready to stop talking and play.

Can the congregation give an amen?

“It’s time to go play the game,” Smart said. “One of the hardest things to do as a coach is manage that emotion and anxiety building into such a great game like this. We’re excited and we’re ready to play.”

As pressers before big games typically go, there wasn’t any of what you’d consider breaking news.

Riley was asked the obligatory question about Baker Mayfield’s health, cracking a smile, responding he didn’t want to give (Smart) too much info before acknowledging what everyone obviously expects – that the Heisman Trophy winner will be fine.

Smart smirked ever so slightly.

One of the funnier moments came when a reporter asked both coaches their thoughts on all the extracurricular activities and how each coach stuck the balance between fun and work.

Following a brief pause, Riley gave a relative well-thought out response, one you can be certain he’s been asked to share more than once over the past few days.

Smart?

“Yeah, we just try to keep the main thing the main thing,” he said, drawing a muted chuckle or two.

Like Riley, Smart received his obligatory quarterback question – this one regarding Jake Fromm’s youth and inexperienced compared to Mayfield’s talent and experience.

Veteran Bulldog reporters clutched their laptops. This was going to be good.

Smart didn’t disappoint.

“Well, good thing for him is he's not playing against Baker. They're not on the field at the same time unless we put him out there at defensive back or something, which that would really concern me. So, he doesn't have to do that,” he said. “The good news is he has done a good job of using the people around him to help him. He's also played in some really big games this year for us, so he's got some experience. Traveling to Notre Dame the first time I was a lot more worried about how he was going to respond to adversity, to mistakes and things like that. Having seen him play throughout the year, play in our conference, play in the SEC Championship game, I think he'll have the confidence to respond the right way.”

Smart feels the same about his entire Bulldog football team when it comes to handling the pressures of being on one of college football’s grandest stages – with a spot in the national championship on the line.

Nervous? Are you kidding? This is exactly the kind of game and opportunity that Smart was hired to reach. The next step? Well, this is it.

The Bulldogs aren’t about to shy away from it now.

“Big games are what your program was built for. You've built toward this all year, all off-season. And each game only gets bigger. They've been in a must-win situation for I don't know how many weeks now. We've been in a must-win situation for a lot of weeks,” Smart said. “There's been a lot of games played. There is another opportunity to go out and play with physicality, play with good composure, and go for the best you can play.”

Let’s do this.