The Georgia Bulldogs touched down safely Friday night in Indianapolis, the site of Monday night’s National Championship against Alabama (8 p.m., ESPN).
Unlike their recent trip to Miami, there will be no sightseeing involved.
There’s a national title to win.
“It feels good. The mood was great. The guys have been great. We’ve had good practices, and we’re excited to be here,” head coach Kirby Smart told reporters upon arriving at Indianapolis International Airport. “Our guys are fired up. We’ve got a tall task—we’ve got a really good team to play. It’s kind of unique. It almost feels like we’re playing them back-to-back.”
Nobody questions the Bulldogs will need to be at their best to upend the Crimson Tide.
Much has been made of the fact that Georgia has lost seven straight to Alabama, although two of those games have been extremely close.
“It's been games of momentum,” Smart said earlier. “They've done a good job at momentum in the second half. Each game has been different. And it will never be about him and me. I know he won't make it that, and I won't make it that, because that's for you guys to do that.”
Smart believes his Bulldogs are as prepared as they could be. Any last-minute tweaks will take place during Saturday’s practice.
“We’ll keep working on different things. We try to keep our plan our plan, but you’re always trying to throw different looks at guys,” Smart said. “We’ll probably see some things we haven’t seen, and hopefully they’ll see some things they haven’t seen. We’ve worked really hard at guys seeing unusual things. I think you can become creatures of habit. If you see things over and over, you can react to it. We tried to throw a lot of curveballs at our guys to see how they’d react.”
Naturally, all eyes will be on quarterback Stetson Bennett.
The former two-star has been a hot-button topic for many Georgia fans, but stands just one victory away from doing something predecessors like David Greene, Aaron Murray, and Jake Fromm were unable to do—lead Georgia to a national title.
Some may see that as a lot of pressure for one person to carry. But Bennett does not see it that way.
“Maybe I'm not capable of holding that weight on my shoulders, but, no, I'm just treating it as a football game. Do I know that means a lot to a lot of people? Yes. Am I trying to play some kind of savior by winning a national championship for millions of people? No. I don't think that's my job,” Bennett said. “My job is to go out there and throw completions to very talented people we have on this team. I think it's as simple as that.”
Bennett naturally understands what the game means to so many fans of the Red and Black.
“I know it means a lot to a lot of people. Is it just another game? No, I'm not silly. But I don't think for 20-year-old kids you can put that kind of pressure on yourself, because you might go crazy,” Bennett said. “I'm just treating it as another game, and I'm preparing my butt off, and everybody on this team is. But the reason we're doing that is because we respect the heck out of Alabama and the team they are. And we know we'll have to give it our best shot to win this game.”
Smart is confident his Bulldogs are ready to give it their best shot.
“Our guys have played on some big stages now—the SEC Championship, the Orange Bowl,” Smart said. “What happens is you become more comfortable when you get in those environments. We’ve got some older players; they’ve played well in those environments. But you need younger guys, guys in their first and second year to play well, and you need your older players to help them do that.”
