Whatever Kirby Smart told his team at halftime of Saturday’s SEC opener against South Carolina, you'd think it was one hell of a speech.

Actually, it was quite the opposite.

Per players and Smart himself, there were no fiery speeches, no hand-wringing or pounding fists on the walls. The way Dillon Bell described it, it was all quite serene.

“It was all become calm, cool and collective,” Bell said of the Bulldogs who went into halftime down 14-3 before rallying in the second for a 24-14 win.

“We talk about our four DNA traits. When things get tough, that's what you do. You rely on your DNA traits. I was pretty excited at half because I said, 'We're going to find out what kind of team we got. This is it, right here. This is our moment.'” Smart said. “We've had moments in other games, and we're going to win one moment at a time in the second half. No one is going to go out there and score a 14-point touchdown. You're going to win one moment at a time, play-by-play. When we lose a moment, we have to win the next moment. And they kind of bought into that. The drive allowed us to get some momentum, and that was the difference in the game, the momentum in the second half."

After taking the second-half kickoff, the Bulldogs promptly drove down the field, taking just six plays to drive 75 yards, scoring on a 7-yard run by Daijun Edwards.

The defense took its cue after that.

Following a quick three and out, the offense scored again, this time using a 3-yard run by Bell to go up 17-14. The Bulldogs would not trail again.

“I found out a lot more about my team today than I have any other day this year. I’m just thrilled that I came into the locker room, they were committed to each other, they were talking about how we’ve got to do better,” Smart said. “The offense was over there, the defense was over there, nobody was bickering, they were in complete control, a calm amongst the storm. .... The world has questions about all these things, but you know what? We persevered.”

Center Sedrick Van Pran agreed.

“I learned that we could fight. It may not always be pretty, it may not be the most gorgeous thing you’re going to see,” Van Pran said. “But I think we do a tremendous job with our coaching staff making adjustments and then, as the players, trying to execute and just fight.”

For anyone who felt Saturday’s game was like last year’s contest at Missouri, a game Georgia trailed by 10 in the fourth quarter, Smart did, too.

In fact, he mentioned it to his team at the half.

"I mentioned that at halftime to them. I used that as a reference 'We've been here before. We've done this before. We are resilient.' Shane (Beamer) said it after the game, 'You showed why you have a championship-caliber football team.' Teams that are championship-caliber, they find a way when they don't have their best game,” Smart said. “But we've got to find out why we don't. Why didn't we have our best game? Because I certainly felt like we had great practices and like we improved. I'll be honest with you, I thought we played so much better offensively. We didn't get rewarded for playing better because of A, kicks, and B, not cashing in, in the red area. We've got to be more effective in the red area. But 29 first downs, good grief."

Smart acknowledged his team’s slow offensive starts are a concern.

“I can say we’re playing good in the second half, but we’ve got to figure out what’s going on in the first. I thought we created a little bit of an identity in how we came out the second half. Give them credit. Say good job, what we can do better, keep adjusting, and keep getting better.”

Smart hopes those improvements begin next Saturday against UAB.

"I'm not relieved. I'm not ever relieved. I mean, my expectation is we go out and dominate and create a nightmare, and make people want to never play you again. We didn't do that today. We didn't, like, make them never want us to play us again. But we did respond to adversity, and that's all it is. It's going to happen all over the country, guys,” Smart said. “Go look. It's going to happen all over the country. People have to play close games to get better, and the expectation that's created of these teams that are the top-tier teams, it wasn't created by them—it was created by perception. You are what you do on the field, and we are right now a team that has played three average first halves. I don't know if they're even average, but they had a response."