ATLANTA — For Georgia coach Kirby Smart, one clear thing sticks out that he'll need to see from his players if the Dawgs are to get past Ohio State and into the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
"You look across the board, do studies on these semifinal and final Playoff games, since the Playoff started, physicality at the line of scrimmage is critical," Smart said Friday ahead of the semifinal Peach Bowl against Ohio State on Saturday. "You look across the board at teams who run the ball well, tend to win these games... the line of scrimmage play and physicality."
The Bulldogs coach was even more direct about what his team needs to do Saturday when asked about Ohio State's star quarterback C.J. Stroud.
"When you're playing Ohio State, you gotta be disruptive. You gotta affect the quarterback some kind of way," Smart said. "Because if you don't, he's very accurate. He's a very accurate passer that knows were he's going with the ball when you give him free access. With a quarterback like that, they can wear you out."
And with that, the battle lines for the Peach Bowl are basically drawn.
One of the biggest questions facing the Dawgs as they came into the season - maybe the biggest question - was how the team would look like on the lines, and particularly what their pass rush would look like, after losing a record number of players to the NFL Draft.
For the most part, the players next in line to step up and lead the Dawgs have responded. Georgia's defense hasn't quite been as historically dominant as last season, but in the games where they've faced probably their stiffest tests - Oregon, Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky - they've held strongest.
Even in the SEC Championship Game, in which LSU scored 30 points, UGA went into halftime with a 35-10 lead before taking their foot off the gas some.
Into the void left by the likes of Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean and Travon Walker (a list that only scratches the surface of the defensive talent Georgia sent to the Draft), the Dawgs have seen players including Jalen Carter, Smael Mondon and Javon Dumas-Johnson develop into stars in their own right.
Ohio State, meanwhile, is known for its impressive offensive talent, starting with Stroud and including receivers Marvin Harrison Jr., Emeka Egbuka and running back Miyan Williams. The Buckeyes scored at least 20 points in every single game they played this year.
But the Dawgs - in terms of talent and production - might have that edge in physicality and line play. That, at least, is what Kirby Smart will clearly be hoping.
Where Stetson Bennett is at
There's also, of course, Georgia's defending champion quarterback.
He's been as consistently excellent this year as he was last year, and Smart said Friday that even as his quarterback has risen from an unheralded walk-on, who transferred away from and then back to UGA, into a Heisman finalist this year - he hasn't lost his grounding.
Basically, Smart said, no worries on that front.
"Very consistent in practices. You worry sometimes, guys go off to events and award shows... they don't affect a 25-year-old (Bennett) the same as a kid who's 18 or 19. He's very grounded in what he does, great work ethic," Smart said. "I think the quarterback position is the most critical factor in a game because the way offenses are now, they put so much decision-making on the quarterback, pre-snap, post-snap, I mean everything is on the quarterback. Both these teams have really experienced, really proven guys who make good decisions, so when you have that, you're right more than you're wrong, and that usually creates scoring."
11Alive's Maria Martin also asked Smart what makes him proudest of Bennett and his winding journey to possible back-to-back championships.
"I'm most proud of the fact that he was persistent. He stayed the course and didn't jump ship when he was two or when he was three (on the depth chart), he stayed the course, he stayed with us," Smart said. "I'm grateful for that persistence and resiliency he showed, and belief in himself he showed... he loved Georgia, he wanted to prove he could play at Georgia and he created his own story by doing that."