Kirby Smart believes that last week’s surprising upsets involving four highly ranked teams won’t be a motivation for No. 5 Georgia as they prepare to face underdog Mississippi State on Saturday.
“No, we don’t rely on the motivation of others,” Smart said. “I don’t know. I just don’t think that’s a great way to go about things. We’re really focusing on pride in performance this week.”
Vanderbilt’s unexpected 40-35 victory over No. 1 Alabama was the biggest shock among the top 11 teams that lost to unranked opponents. Additionally, No. 9 Missouri fell to No. 25 Texas A&M.
If Mississippi State (1-4, 0-2 Southeastern Conference) manages to beat Georgia (4-1, 2-1), it would be one of the biggest surprises of the season, with BetMGM listing Georgia as 33.5-point favorites.
Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby also wants his players to concentrate on their own performance rather than what other teams are doing.
“I think for us it’s still about what we do with our time, how we practice, how we meet, how we walk through,” Lebby said.
Georgia defensive back Malaki Starks is aware of the potential of the underdogs in this SEC matchup.
“I think records and numbers can be deceiving,” Starks said. “They’re a really good team, very explosive, and very well-coached. They’re coming off a bye week, and their last two games they played their best ball. So, they’re coming into this week with a really good head of steam.”
