Smart celebrates Georgia's blowout win: 'We hunted tonight'
Kirby Smart didn't need a lengthy speech for his team before Monday's national title game, as the Georgia coach kept it simple ahead of the matchup with TCU.
"We wanted our kids to play without fear," Smart told ESPN's Molly McGrath postgame. "All year I told them, 'We ain't getting hunted, guys, we're doing the hunting - and hunting season's almost over.' We only got one more chance to hunt, and we hunted tonight."
Safe to say the message was received: The Bulldogs delivered a blowout for the ages, setting a new record with a 65-7 win over the Horned Frogs. It was over shortly after it started, with Georgia racing out to a 38-7 halftime edge on the strength of Stetson Bennett's brilliant play.
Smart praised his players' work ethic following the game, pointing to their will as the key reason they were able to repeat after last season's success.
"They had a will to work. They didn't listen to what everybody said about them - and everybody doubted them to start the year. That chip on the shoulder was just big enough to create an edge for our team," Smart said.
Smart is now the first coach to win back-to-back national titles since his former boss, Nick Saban. The Bulldogs are 29-1 over the past two seasons with an incredible combined score of 1,195-367 during that time span.
When pressed on the secret to how he's built Georgia into a national powerhouse, Smart once again praised his team's work ethic and ability to remain humble.
"We don't run from work. Our kids don't run from work. We go out there on Tuesday and Wednesday - we hit the other day, and our kids were like, 'Coach, we gotta keep doing this, it's who we are,'" Smart said. "As long as you don't have entitlement in your program, you got a shot, and right now we don't have that. It's creeping (in) with games like tonight … but we got a lot of humble guys."
Georgia will now look forward to next season, when it can become the first program to win three titles in a row in the poll era of college football.