The Georgia Bulldogs have been asked this week about the difference in chasing and defending a college football national championship.
Not that there are laws against doing both.
"I feel like we're still chasing the national championship, and we're still chasing the SEC championship this week, and that's what we're focused on," redshirt sophomore receiver Ladd McConkey said. "There have been so many guys who have played in the SEC championship before but haven't won it. It's a goal that we set at the beginning of the year, to win the SEC championship, and we're trying to go out and get that done.
"As for the rest, we'll focus on that when it comes."
Redshirt junior right tackle Warren McClendon really doesn't feel like he's defending anything, either, adding: "You've got to go out, and you've got to win it again this year. Every week, we get our opponent's best, and that's how we prepare, so we have that mindset where we have to bring our best."
The top-ranked and 12-0 Bulldogs are expecting the best late Saturday afternoon from No. 11 LSU, the Southeastern Conference's surprise Western Division champion given its preseason pegging of fifth among the seven teams. The Tigers in Brian Kelly's first season rebounded from a humbling 40-13 loss to Tennessee in early October to shock division favorite Alabama 32-31 in overtime to earn their first venture to Mercedes-Benz Stadium since waxing Georgia 37-10 on their way to the 2019 national title.
LSU is stumbling into Atlanta, however, following last Saturday night's 38-23 loss at Texas A&M, which helps explain why the Tigers (9-3) are 17.5-point underdogs.
"Our players don't live in a cave, so they don't need me to bring things like that up," Kelly said. "They knew that they were 10-point favorites against Texas A&M, and look what that did for them. The distractions of social media do not help in your preparation, so what we've tried to do is get them to think the right things about what's important in their preparation.
"If you think that you get into the right emotional zone because you're an underdog, that's fine, but it's still about your mental, your physical, your technical and tactical preparation. Whether you're an underdog or a favorite, that has nothing to do with your total preparation, and that's how we try to get our guys to think."
Georgia is the third-largest favorite in SEC championship game history, trailing the 1995 Florida Gators, who smothered Arkansas 34-3 as 24-point favorites, and the 2016 Alabama Crimson Tide, who demolished Florida 54-16 as 23.5-point favorites.
Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart obviously isn't discussing point spreads this week but rather LSU's rapid ascension under Kelly, who expects to have quarterback Jayden Daniels (ankle) and running back Josh Williams (knee) available.
"I would argue that they've done the best job in the league of filling holes and creating roster opportunities for guys coming in," Smart said. "You start with their quarterback. Their quarterback has played phenomenal for them. He's a tremendous athlete, and he's been a tremendous asset for them."
A Georgia victory would clinch a third Mercedes-Benz trip for the Peach Bowl national semifinal against the College Football Playoff's fourth-seeded team, with the Bulldogs having opened their season with a resounding 49-3 triumph over Oregon in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game. Smart said there is "no thought of the next step," and his players are eager to continue their quest for another national championship by winning an SEC crown along the way.
"The main difference for us this season is that the target is more so on your back coming off of a national championship rather than just winning one for the first time," fifth-year senior safety Christopher Smith said. "We had a lot of hunger and ambition last year to get to that point, from coming close so many times and not being able to make it. It was great for us to get over that hump, and it was great to get that monkey off our back.
"Now, when you're pursuing it for the second time, everybody knows what you're about. I feel like you have a lot more respect as a team. I don't think any team is going to lay down for us, because they want to be able to spoil our season. Luckily we were able to go 12-0 during the regular season, but that's not the end-all, be-all for us. We want to be the SEC champions, and we want to be the national champions once again."
Manning finalists
The Manning Award, which goes to college football's top quarterback and is presented in January after bowl game results are taken into account, announced its 10 finalists Friday, with Georgia's Stetson Bennett IV, Tennessee's Hendon Hooker, Mississippi State's Will Rogers and Alabama's Bryce Young making the cut out of the SEC.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.