Threepeat talk falls on deaf ears
A funny moment took place during Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint’s session with reporters after practice Tuesday afternoon.
When asked if he and the Bulldogs ever discuss a three-peat, or the idea of a third national title, the senior wideout's response sounded as if it had been authored by Kirby Smart himself.
"That's something we are not even worried about right now. We're worried about UT-Martin. We're worried about the first game, and then the next game and the next day. We are not worried about a three-peat—that's not what we're focused on,” Rosemy-Jacksaint said. “We're focused on winning today and attacking the day today. I know everybody wants to talk about the three-peat, but that's not what we're focused on. We're just focused on ourselves and getting better."
But like it or not, the prospect of Georgia making it three in a row is a conversation that continues to take place outside the walls of the football facility.
Everywhere you turn, college football pundits, podcasters, and bloggers are asking that very question. Until the Bulldogs lose a game—if they do—it’s going to continue to be asked.
Officially, no team has won three straight national championships since Minnesota turned the trick in the 1930s.
“We have not addressed that with them. We’ve certainly looked at some three-peat scenarios of teams like the Bulls and different sports teams that they might actually know about,” Smart said. “No offense to the Minnesota 1935 team, but I don’t know if it’s going to resonate with my audience. But I don’t care about the threepeat, the two-peat, or the one-peat. I care about complacency. If the focus is on that and the outcomes, I think the rest will take care of itself in terms of allowing our guys to focus on being the best they can be.”
Smart has been part of a team that tried.
Alabama won back-to-back national titles in 2011 and 2012 and was going for a third, only to have Jimbo Fisher and Florida State capture the title in 2013.
Talk of a three-peat did not seem to faze sophomore tight end Oscar Delp.
While Delp agrees with Rosemy-Jacksaint that nobody talks about the possibility of winning three in a row, there's motivation to try and make it happen.
“I wasn’t here for the first one, so it doesn’t really mean much to me,” Delp said. “I just want to get one where I really feel I contributed. I’ll work for it, so I’ll really focus on this season. But nobody really talks about that stuff. We’re just focused on this season and winning this year.”
That’s undoubtedly music to Smart’s ears.
As the Bulldogs look ahead to the season-opener against UT-Martin, Smart likes to believe his program is at the point where no magic words are needed.
“I’m not sitting here thinking of some motivating factor,” he said. “We expect to be good at the University of Georgia. We want sustained success. So we have to do that by winning every day. That’s not going to change whether we win it or not this year.”
But what would it mean if the Bulldogs did make it three straight?
“It would be a lot of hard work that had been acknowledged,” Smart said. “I think we’re a long way from that, so to make that assumption or that theory relevant, we would have to get to that point in time. But I can assure you if we get to that point, I’m going to be worrying about the next day’s work more than I am about the achievement.”
