There are a lot of areas Kirby Smart is concerned about heading into Saturday’s game at South Carolina (Noon, ABC). As you might imagine, being ranked No. 1 by the Associated Press is not one.
“It’s irrelevant,” Smart said Monday. “I’m a lot more worried about how we execute a combo block than I am worried about where we’re ranked, and hopefully the kids feel the same way.”
Based on the players Georgia brought out to speak to the media, Smart should have no concerns.
After Alabama’s one-point victory at Texas, the Bulldogs (2-0) moved up one spot to No. 1 in both the AP and Football Writers Association of America Super Sixteen. Georgia remains No. 2 in the USA Today/Coaches Top 25.
“I don’t want to get into that, and I want to stress to the guys not to get into that. That’s something that changes every week,” center Sedrick Van Pran said. “One week we may be No. 1, the next week it may change. The thing for us is to just make sure we uphold the Georgia standard and make sure we play the way we need to play, to win games.”
Right tackle Warren McClendon agrees.
“We really don’t pay attention to the ratings,” he said. “We’re just worried about day by day and getting better, and this upcoming game.”
Saturday’s game at South Carolina will be the seventh time the Gamecocks (1-1) have faced the nation’s top-ranked team. South Carolina is 1-5 in those previous six contests with the lone win coming in October of 2010, when the Gamecocks defeated Alabama, 35-21.
Thus far, complacency hasn’t been a problem for the Bulldogs, who have attempted to carry over their “being the hunters” mantra that worked so successfully for the team last year.
But just in case Smart’s players need a reminder, they only need to look back at last weekend’s upset, when Appalachian State knocked off Texas A&M, Georgia Southern beat Nebraska, and Marshall upended Notre Dame.
“For sure. Those types of things, it can happen any given week to anybody,” Van Pran said. “That’s the beauty of college football: any given week, anybody can beat anybody, so not taking things for granted definitely opens up your eyes. There’s a lot of competitors out there. It doesn’t matter who you are playing. You better take those guys seriously and prepare like it’s the championship.”
Smart said those are the types of hard lessons other teams were forced to learn, and can serve his Bulldogs well.
“Guys, that’s really part of college football. It happens. You can get beat by anybody on any given day. I really try to focus my attention on how we can get better,” he said. “That’s all I worry about. That’s all I concern myself with—how can we get better at practice that day, what are we going to do today to get better. I’m not worried about tomorrow’s practice or Saturday’s game until I get through today’s practice.”
