ATHENS — In some ways, Kirby Smart thinks his team is spoiled.

Not because they’re an entitled bunch or averse to working hard. The team motto is “eat off the floor.” But his team has been to the SEC championship game so often, he can’t help but wonder if the luster of the game is lost on a team that has won back-to-back national championships.

“I have an appreciation for this game and how hard it is to win. It was no different in my experience with Alabama,” Smart said. “We had a year that we won a national championship that we didn’t win an SEC Championship. That’s happened a couple times in our conference. It’s hard to find that in most conferences. I think it speaks to the depth of our conference. It speaks to how hard it is just to get to the game.”

A win on Saturday, by either side, will be hard to come by. Georgia and Alabama are two of the best teams in the country. Based on raw talent, they’re the two most talented teams in the country. And despite most seeing them as two of the four best teams in the country, a loss likely ends the other’s season.

There are real stakes for Saturday’s game. And Georgia’s history against Alabama, in this venue, only amplifies the game for the Bulldogs.

“We want to beat them. We want to win the SEC. We’re facing Bama, so we want to beat Bama, that’s the gist of it,” safety Javon Bullard said. “I haven’t beat them, we haven’t beat them, it’s going to make for a great matchup. I can’t wait to play but like I said we want to beat them.”

While Bullard was on the Georgia team that beat Alabama in the 2022 National Championship Game, he didn’t play a big role on the team and certainly not as big as the one he will on Saturday. He was also a member of the Georgia team that lost 41-24 in the 2021 SEC Championship Game.

This Georgia team, as has been said multiple times, is very different from the 2021 team. Brock Bowers and Sedrick Van Pran are the only two starters from the 2022 National Championship Game who will suit up on Saturday.

But this team is still well aware of the past history with Alabama. It knows the success of Alabama in this building under Nick Saban. The Crimson Tide head coach is 17-1 in Atlanta since taking the Alabama job in 2007. The lone loss came in the 2008 SEC Championship Game. Saban is 7-0 in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, with three of those wins coming against Georgia.

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