Kirby Smart gave the same answer to multiple questions after Georgia's 51-13 win over Kentucky.

What is the identity of his team? Where is his team elite? What does it say about his team that the Bulldogs blew out previously undefeated Kentucky?

Smart provided the same phrase for each question.

"We can take a punch and we can give a punch," Smart said.

It's a simple phrase, but also one that describes the first half of Georgia's 2023 regular season. Georgia has taken its fair share of punches, perhaps more than one would expect for a No. 1 team.

There have been slow starts and defensive lapses, execution issues on both sides of the ball and mental breakdowns. The Bulldogs found themselves trailing at halftime to South Carolina at home and were locked in a dogfight with an Auburn team most expected them to blow out.

"I don't know that we get everybody's best game," Smart said. "They're not giving us their best game because of our ranking or a winning streak or any of that. They want to play their best game because that's what they need to do. So we want to play our best game because we want to play it."

But one of the biggest keys for championship teams is resiliency. That's certainly something the Bulldogs have shown in spades this season.

They rallied to take down South Carolina. They showed composure in a wild environment at Jordan-Hare Stadium last Saturday to fend off Auburn's upset bid.

Against Kentucky, the Bulldogs delivered their most complete performance of the season. For arguably the first time all year, Georgia played like the No.1 team in the country for four quarters.

There's a long way to go in Georgia's quest for a three-peat. But Smart has learned his team is going to roll with the punches and keep swinging until the end.

"We talked about how people can't match our connection, and nobody really believes that matters—or, at least, I don't know how much people believe it matters," Smart said. "We do, and we think that what we do all offseason in terms of connection with each other, combined with our physicality, is what makes us dangerous."