Kirby Smart Says Georgia Needs to 'Play Bigger' in CFP After Back-to-Back Sugar Bowl Losses

Georgia's last two seasons have ended in familiar fashion—SEC titles before quarterfinal losses in the College Football Playoffs.

Head coach Kirby Smart is ready to reverse the latter part.

"We've got to find a way to, whether we win the SEC or not, to get into that playoff and play better and play bigger in bigger moments," he told ESPN's Pete Thamel on Tuesday.

While Smart wouldn't make excuses for the CFP disappointments, he did make it clear that he isn't a big fan of the long layoff between the regular season and the start of the playoff.

"No sport that I know of shuts down for 25 to 30 days between performances, and we have not had our best performances when we needed them most," he said. "I don't want to blame it on that. I would love to see the flow of the season be like, 'OK which team is the strongest continually playing and going week to week', and we've got some opportunities to do that in the future. I hope we can get to that point."

The Smart era has included a pair of national championships and five berths in the College Football Playoffs, though the Bulldogs have been one-and-done in the two years since expansion increased the field to 12 teams. It's given Georgia a pretty clear benchmark to beat in the 2026 campaign.