Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart was mostly complimentary of the Tennessee Vols on Saturday following UGA’s 44-41 overtime win.

Smart mentioned that he has a lot of respect for the way the Vols play, while pointing out that Tennessee is “physical” and “tough”.

The longtime Georgia head coach also made an admission after the game that seemed to suggest that he underestimated the Volunteers in one key area.

Kirby Smart thought the Bulldogs’ conditioning would be an advantage against the Vols

Tennessee is typically one of the best conditioned teams in college football. The Vols’ offense operates as a frantic pace — elite conditioning (on both sides of the ball) is required to play at Tennessee under Josh Heupel.

Smart, however, thought Georgia had a conditioning advantage over Tennessee. And he thought he was going to see the fruits of that perceived advantage after the first drive in the second half.

“We thought our advantage was our conditioning level,” said Smart after the game. “We felt like we were a better conditioned team. And I really thought there after the first drive in the second half, alright, here we go — we’re getting ready to rock and roll. But [Tennessee] bowed their neck. They were a playoff football team (a year ago) and they stopped the run some, and they forced us to do different things.”

It sounds like Smart thought the Bulldogs were about to leave the Vols in the dust in the second half.

It also sounds like Smart underestimated Tennessee’s conditioning level.

The Vols certainly weren’t perfect on Saturday against Georgia — there’s a lot they need to clean up. But effort level and conditioning weren’t areas where Tennessee was slacking. The Vols never backed down in the face of adversity. And they went toe to toe for 60 plus minutes against a program that’s been the standard in the SEC over the last five or six years.

Georgia may have won on Saturday, but Smart learned that this isn’t the same Tennessee team the Bulldogs have seen the last few years.

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