Smart: Dawgs still have reason to be excited
Georgia coach Kirby Smart said Sunday night there’s a couple of very big reasons for his team be excited about its Liberty Bowl matchup with Texas Christian.
One, he said, is the opportunity to play a Horned Frog team (6-6) under head coach Gary Patterson that he’s always respected and, until this year, has recently been one of the top teams in the Big 12.
Second, it’s a chance to get better, and considering there’s a lot of improving that Georgia (7-5) can stand to, that’s a good thing.
“I think any college coach in the country will tell you that a bowl game is an opportunity for everybody to get better. We’re trying to get the entire team – from walk-ons to scholarship guys, to seniors who will be leaving for the draft – we’re trying to improve our entire team,” Smart said in a teleconference with Liberty Bowl officials. “Certainly, we’ll have an opportunity to give those younger guys some extra work and let them dedicate themselves to get better, and we’ve got a lot of areas to get better. We’re fired up about that opportunity.”
Kickoff at the Dec. 30 game in Memphis is set for noon.
Preparations for the bowl are set to begin either the 13th or the 14th following final exams, which begin on Wednesday.
According to Smart, the team will hold nine or 10 practices in Athens, before convening in Memphis for a team welcome party on the 26th.
Teams are allowed 15 practices, but Smart isn’t sure whether he will use them all.
“I’ve been fortunate to win some national championships and we didn’t get 15 in not one time on those,” Smart said. “We’ll probably get anywhere from 11 to 13 or 14; A) depending on the weather, B) whether we do any two-a-day practices. But, to be honest with you, I doubt we’ll get all 15 in. We never have in our history.”
Smart said he expects the Horned Frogs to provide quite the challenge.
Although TCU “slipped” to 23rd nationally in total offense this year after finishing third the season before, Smart said TCU will still be one of the better offenses his team has seen.
“The No. 1 thing I know is they play great defense and up-tempo offense. They set the standards in how you play offense with how fast they play,” he said. “They’re an exciting brand of football; they go really fast and I know what they’ve done defensively.”
In fact, when Smart was at Alabama, he watched a lot of film of TCU while preparing for Oklahoma a few years ago.
“When I was up for the Broyles Award, their coordinator was up for that same year and they had some of the more amazing statistics I’ve ever heard defensively, and I think (Patterson) is one of the best defensive minds in all of college ball,” Smart said. “I’ve always respected him and when you see they played somebody that you’re going to see, you watch that film. They play a brand of football that is really fast, really physical and they’ve always had great defensive years.”