Georgia shifting focus to playing role of the spoiler

With its latest loss to Florida, Georgia is mathematically eliminated from winning the SEC East.

But that doesn’t mean all is gone for the remainder of the season.

Georgia’s players can still have at least some sort of fun through its final four games, all while playing for pride in the school they compete for. One way they can do that is by playing the role of a team looking to end any aspirations the opposition has. That begins Saturday with a road trip to Kentucky.

"At some point in time you’ve got to be the spoiler," defensive lineman John Atkins said. "I think it’s going to be fun to get one on the road, man down and do everything we do in practice to be pretty good."

Florida leads the SEC East with only one loss and is in control of the division at the moment. The Gators would have to lose at least twice in remaining games against Arkansas, South Carolina and LSU to not claim the East crown.

Kentucky is surprisingly sitting with only two SEC losses and in second place in the East. Georgia has a chance Saturday to dash the Wildcats’ hopes of sneaking into the top spot with a win.

Georgia’s season hasn’t gone to plan by any means. While a transition period was inevitable for first-year head coach Kirby Smart, the Bulldogs are 4-4 and haven’t played up to the ability the program has shown in the past.

Since an opening-game win over North Carolina that saw Georgia jump to No. 9 in the country, the Bulldogs have seen most of their losses occur with being unable to consistently run the ball and with poor performances on special teams.

Now that the SEC East is officially out of reach, the Bulldogs’ shift in attitude could result in a looser group on the playing field.

After Kentucky, Georgia plays an Auburn team that’s red hot and very much alive in the SEC West race. Georgia Tech will look to hand Smart his first loss as a head coach in the two schools’ annual in-state rivalry.

"We’ll probably have more fun now that we’re playing the spoiler," outside linebacker Chuks Amaechi said. "We’re trying to spoil all the rest of the teams’ dreams who are trying to get to better bowl games or even the SEC Championship."

Georgia will try to find any kind of positivity it can coming off its third consecutive loss to Florida and fourth defeat during the 2016 season. Smart has certainly endured a rough opening eight-game stretch as a head coach considering the team he inherited won 10 games a year ago.

On top of that, Georgia has won at least 10 games in four of the past five seasons. Replacing former head coach Mark Richt with Smart was seen as a move get Georgia competing for championships sooner as opposed to after a rebuilding phase.

Instead, it’s Georgia wondering whether it can save its season and reach the postseason as opposed to Kentucky, which has won five of its past six games.

"They’ve probably got good self-talk going on," Smart said. "We probably don’t. So convincing our kids and making them understand that what they believe is who they are. If you believe that you’re a bad team then you probably are. If you believe that you’re a good team then you probably are. That’s the sell we’ve got to do a great job as coaches with our players, to be honest with you. I really believe we’re a better team than we’ve indicated."

Kentucky, after dropping its first two games of the season, is one win away from being bowl eligible for the first time since 2010.

Georgia must win two more to be in that position. The Bulldogs would sure like to be the team that prevents Kentucky from punching its postseason ticket while simultaneously getting one win closer in their quest to do so.

"I’m glad they’re fixing to be bowl eligible but we can’t let them overcome us being on the road," Atkins said. "We have to steal one on the road."

This story was originally published October 31, 2016 at 4:18 PM with the headline "Georgia shifting focus to playing role of the spoiler."