NEW ORLEANS, La. — Head coaches Kirby Smart and Matt Rhule offered their final thoughts Tuesday morning prior to Wednesday night’s 8:45 p.m. kickoff of the 86th Sugar Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Both Smart’s 5th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs and Rhule’s 7th-ranked Baylor Bears will enter the game with 11-2 season records with the New Year’s Night winner likely looking at a Top Five national finish.
Smart, despite the fact his team will be without some six of its regular-season starters and also six backup players due to academic ineligibility, injury and other unspecified reasons, said the Bulldogs have staged intense practices in Athens and New Orleans and he’s excited to see how they will play against a Baylor team that, like Georgia, boasts one of the nation’s top defensive units … a defense that is led by All-America and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, James Lynch.