Georgia coach Kirby Smart has long been a fan of the Southeastern Conference championship game.
After official word arrived about the game’s future cancellation, No. 1 Georgia can take another step toward returning to the event for a sixth straight year when it hosts No. 22 Missouri on Saturday afternoon in Athens, Ga.
“I think it’s a great, historic game,” Smart said of the SEC title contest, which will be played for the last time in December before the College Football Playoff expands to 24 teams in 2027. “It’s great for the players, the programs, and the fans. The location has been awesome for us. The venue is incredible. All of those things are awesome, but times are changing. As they change, you have to adapt to it.”
Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz took a strong position regarding the upcoming schedule change.
“My question is why are we associated with conferences anymore if we’re not playing for a conference championship?” Drinkwitz said.
Under the current system, the Bulldogs sit atop the SEC standings, a relatively common occurrence. After sustaining an upset at the hands of Auburn on Oct. 17, Georgia (8-1, 6-1 SEC) breezed past then-No. 17 Florida 27-8 before dominating then-No. 10 Ole Miss 42-7 last Saturday in Oxford, Miss.
In the Bulldogs’ penultimate conference game, Smart and company return home for the first time in nearly a month to welcome Missouri (6-3, 3-3) after two years without the former SEC East rival on the schedule.
“(Drinkwitz) does a tremendous job as a coach,” Smart said. “I think this is one of his better teams. He has an elite quarterback and he’s got talent surrounding him. He’s playing in a tough, brutal league just like we all are, and he has been in some really tight ballgames. …
“It will be a great challenge for us. I hope that our fans will turn out and create the same environments we’ve been seeing on the road. We need that same environment when people come to play here.”
Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton leads the SEC with 20 passing touchdowns. The senior completed just nine passes against Ole Miss, four of them for TDs.
Missouri continues a gauntlet of a schedule as it looks to snap a 10-game losing streak in the series. The Tigers will face a ranked team for a fifth time in seven games, and they still have No. 11 Kentucky to come next week.
Drinkwitz has the highest praise, though, for the Bulldogs, a foe Missouri hasn’t beaten since 2013.
“I will say just when we talk about Georgia, there’s zero doubt that they’re the benchmark for the league right now,” Drinkwitz said. “The way that Coach Smart runs his program, the philosophical identity that he has in offense, defense and special teams, the way his team plays consistently down in and down out, it’s what everybody in our conference is chasing. He does it the right way and always has done it the right way.”
Missouri quarterback Austin Simmons has thrown for 2,204 yards and 18 touchdowns with just two interceptions. The Tigers boast the SEC’s top rusher, Jamal Roberts (1,071 yards), and receiver, Cayden Lee (835).
Lee left Missouri’s 34-20 loss to then-No. 7 Texas last week with an injury, but his head coach gave a positive update for his best pass-catcher’s availability.
“Cayden Lee has no structural damage to the knee,” Drinkwitz said. “We’ll monitor that situation as it goes. He was out at practice (on Monday), and he is as tough a competitor as I’ve been around. So nothing would shock me more than if he wasn’t playing.”