"It was a program win": Kirby Smart recalls stellar win over mighty Texas in SEC championship game

Kirby Smart led his Georgia team through injuries and an exhaustive SEC schedule through injuries and an exhaustive SEC schedule to register an 11-3 season in 2024. One prominent game that stood out for the veteran coach was the 22-19 overtime SEC championship win against the Texas Longhorns.

Despite losing star quarterback Carson Beck to an injury in the first half, Smart and Co. managed to sustain momentum and finally win the game. While speaking to Josh Pate on Monday, the Bulldogs coach recalled the moment they won the matchup.

Kirby Smart calls it a collective victory where the defense stopped the Texas offense and backup Gunner Stockton Stockton stood up for the team. All the units worked synchronously to help Georgia make the second round of the College Football Playoff. [Timestamp - 20:08]

“Proud of our culture, or our culture helped win that game. Our familiarity with the conference helped win that game. I mean, Texas was a beat up football team too. They had played a really tough schedule,” Smart said to Pate on his show.

“They had the offensive tackle who was a great player. Their quarterback was also beat up and banged up, but at that point in time, everybody, you played, everybody, in fact, the group we had was resilient, and we won it because we won the line of scrimmage. We stopped the run on defense. That's why we won that game. And we ran the ball better than we did most of the time.

"So we won the game based on our culture, our toughness, all the things we built our program on. It was a program win. It was a program win. And I'm probably most proud of that of all the games, because of all the things we faced within that game, that was a tough one,” he added.

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Kirby Smart gets real about the scheduling process

One of the significant factors behind the Georgia Bulldogs's poor stats was their schedule. Kirby Smart mentioned that 2024 was the first year they learned about the new model of SEC, which is not about how many games you win but how you come back from a loss and clinch a victory.

When asked how important it was for the team to know their schedule a year before, Smart stated that while coaches have nothing to do with the early schedule release, it helps the players plan better and make travel arrangements and hotel reservations.

The Georgia coach believed that even if the schedule for that particular season is released in March after spring games, coaches can quickly ramp up their preparations and get ready by the season. It's more about coaching your players than the opposition.