LOS ANGELES – Just one day after the big game, University of Georgia head football coach Kirby Smart and Texas Christian University head football coach Sonny Dykes were inside the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Ballroom on Sunday morning to take questions from the media. won the podium.
The Bulldogs, who are unbeaten in 14 games this season, and the Horned Frogs, who lost one in the Big 12 Championship Game to Kansas State, will face off at SoFi Stadium on Monday night.
The two schools on top of the college football mountain are no different. Georgia has tripled her student enrollment at TCU (37,606 to 10,489) and is a strong program to win back-to-back national titles. Texas Christian is a Christian-focused university in central Texas that doesn’t have much of a national identity. Dykes said he has key players on his roster who have never played in a bowl game before this season.
After losing 31-28 to Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship Game on December 3, 2022, Georgia is the defending National Champion and Southeastern Conference Champion, with TCU finishing second in the Big 12 So the differences between the programs persist. Since 1938 he has competed in national championships. Horned Frog won his 1935 and his 1938 titles.
Monday night might be fine, though. He only plays for two teams in college football. “There are countless hours and minutes that both of us have put in to prepare,” Smart said of the team at this point in the season at the head coach’s press conference.
It’s the first big game for the Horned Frogs this year, but Dykes believes his team is ready for the challenge. “Of course, it’s my first time on a stage like this,” he said. “Getting ready for the bowl, playing in a big game like this, is new to us, not necessarily to TCU. It’s been a tough journey for these guys.” TCU’s current roster has just four players who played in a bowl game prior to last week’s Fiesta Bowl semifinal against Michigan.
Both coaches talked about team preparation time, their respective meetings, hiring, talent development, mental health of players and coaches, managing family vacations, and of course playing for a national title.
Georgia lost 15 starters on defense from last year’s championship team, but regrouped and prepared for all the practice time the team will get for the conference championship and bowl games. “A lot of the reason we were able to hand over the roster from last year to this year was practice,” Smart said.
Will he or won’t he?
Smart said briefly that junior tight end Darnell Washington would be good to play on Monday night. “He’s worked hard, he’s been in a lot of rehab, and I know he wants to play,” Smart said. Washington has had 27 receptions this season for 426 yards and two touchdowns, making him one of Georgia’s top weapons.
National Championship kick-off is scheduled for 4:30 PM PT / 7:30 PM ET.
