There’s a lot on the line for Georgia Saturday night at Texas (7:30 p.m., ABC).

With a loss to Alabama, another defeat to the Longhorns would potentially put the Bulldogs in a position of needing to win the rest of its games in hopes of qualifying for the 12-team playoff at season’s end.

However, head coach Kirby Smart isn’t worrying about that.

“No. That's for you guys to talk about and speculate about, not for us,” Smart said. “I look at it every year and observe our team based on the criteria of, ‘Did we get the most out of them? Did we maximize the potential of that team?’ We know what we see every day on the practice field. We know what we have relative to who we're playing. We know all those things. I don't get caught up in, well, if this happens or that happens or they're playing - everybody's going to start saying that.”

However, make no mistake.

If Georgia can pull off the victory, it will propel the Bulldogs right back to the top of the playoff conversation, although the rest of the schedule does not figure to be a cakewalk.

“You're playing the long game. The long game is, ‘Who can be the best team at the end of the year?’ You're trying to be one of the best 12 teams, and how that aligns with this game, it's not real,” Smart said. “We've got to worry about how we play in this game. We've got to worry about what we've got to do to play well in this game - not any narrative that's out there or what people are talking about in the playoffs. That's a way down the road. We've got to get better at what we've got to do.”

Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby was asked about Kirby Smart reaching out after last Saturday's shoving incident against quarterback Michael Van Buren.

Was he satisfied with Smart’s response?

“I’m satisfied. Kirby reached out to me right after the game, and reached out to Mike,” Lebby said. “There was great dialogue and communication there."

Lebby added he would have handled the situation the very same way.

"If I were on the other side of it, I would have done something incredibly similar,” Lebby said. “And it was. It was immediate.”

Smart said Texas’ current team reminds him of his recent Bulldog squads.

“Well, I think when you look for a team, you look for weaknesses, you look for areas that you can maybe take advantage of,” Smart said. “When you look across the board to the kicking game, the passing game, the run game, the fundamentally sound complimentary football, forced turnovers, don't turn the ball over, the things that you can eliminate from beating yourself, they do a great job at all of that.”

A quick look at the stats is a good barometer.

Not only is Texas ranked 7th nationally in both scoring and offense (43.2 points, 495.7 yards), the Longhorns are also the country’s top defensive team allowing just 229.7 yards per contest.

“That’s why they're undefeated, that's why they were in the playoffs last year, and that's why they're ranked number one right now in the country,” Smart said. “It's because they've played very good complimentary football on both sides of the ball and in three ways, counting special teams.”

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is considered one of the best offensive minds in college football.

So, what does he think about Georgia’s offense heading into Saturday night’s game?

“Watching the growth of Carson, you know, the thing that stands out, we all have to evolve every year. I think for Georgia, they have had to evolve,” Sarkisian said. “When you lose kind of the caliber of players, they lost off the last year's teams, most notably Brock Bowers, it’s tough.”

Sarkisian said he’s impressed with the way Georgia’s offense appears to be re-inventing itself.

“The thing I appreciate is they've got all the offense. My biggest thing in watching them is every screen like we do, they use multiple, you know, motions and shifts and formations. They've got a physical downhill running game,” Sarkisian said. “Then off of that, they've got all the play-action pass stuff where they can throw it over your head. Like I said earlier in the week, Carson has the ability to do all of that.”

Sarkisian noted Beck’s 55-yard completion to Arian Smith last week against Mississippi State as a big-time throw.

“I think the ball was in the air 62 or 64 yards. You know, so he's got big-time arm talent. He's got great pocket presence,” he said. “But as you're trying to defend all that down the field, you still have to worry about the advantage throws, the receiver screens, the things of that nature where they can get completions and move the ball down the field.”

…Smart would not say if he’s practiced the “12-man penalty” that Oregon and Dan Lanning utilized against Ohio State. “I don't get into our practices and what we work on and things we do, things like that,” Smart said. “We try to be as detailed as we can to prepare, but it's not something I'd rather comment on.”

… Sarkisian said wide receiver Isaiah Bond (ankle) is expected to play against the Bulldogs.