Georgia Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart, Dawgs Set for Tough Test vs. Oregon Ducks

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ATHENS - Kirby Smart and the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs have finally gotten to game week. 

The Dawgs will face No. 11 Oregon in the Chick-fil-a Kickoff Game in Atlanta. Georgia is listed as a 17-5 point favorite to win the game. Kirby said Monday that his team has worked to be ready for the challenge of opening the season for the second season in a row with a big game:

“I'm really excited about how hard our guys worked and strained,” he said Monday at his weekly press conference. “We certainly are not completely ready for Oregon - we shouldn't be. Oregon is a hell of a team. But I am pleased with where we are.”

The seventh-year head coach has won all of his opening games dating back to the last time Georgia played in the Chick-fil-a Kickoff Game - a 33-24 win over No. 22 North Carolina. That was Kirby’s first game as head coach of the Dawgs. 

“From a coaching standpoint - your team improves most from week one to week two,” Chick-fil-a Kickoff Game CEO Gary Stoken said last week. “When you play that first week of competition against a team like Oregon it is going to be a challenge. Then you coach the players up with film of you against perhaps and All-American.”

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It has been 231 days since the Dawgs played a game, and that game culminated in the program’s first national title in two generations. Since then Kirby and his program have been the toast of the state. Now the challenge will be refocusing Georgia’s efforts into a run for another crown. 

College football has not had a back-to-back champion since Alabama did it in 2011-12. Kirby was the defensive coordinator on those two Tide teams.