• Kirby Smart roasted Greg Sankey after Georgia’s SEC championship victory when he should have thanked the commissioner for a schedule that prepared the Bulldogs for the playoff.
• Georgia forged its mental resilience from the fires of an SEC schedule that included three stiff road tests.
• Georgia beat Texas in overtime, and now it’s off to a first-round CFP bye.

ATLANTA – Kirby Smart stood on stage bathed in glory, while his players celebrated an SEC championship, but even in this moment marked for celebration, Georgia’s coach set his sights on a new adversary.

When Smart gets on a warpath, he spares no one.

Even if that someone is college sports’ most powerful figure, the SEC’s commissioner, standing just a few feet away from Smart.

Smart roasted Greg Sankey after Georgia’s 22-19 overtime win Saturday against Texas in the SEC championship game.

Georgia’s victory unlocked a first-round playoff bye. When ESPN’s Laura Rutledge asked Smart during an on-field interview what that bye means, Smart sharpened his tongue.

“It means rest for a team that Greg Sankey and his staff sent on the road, all year long. We get to take a little bit of a break and get ready for the College Football Playoff,” Smart said. “This team needs some rest.”

Georgia fans cheered Smart’s acerbic jab at the SEC’s boss, while a grim-faced Sankey listened.

Fun though it might be to come after “the man,” when you unpack Smart’s comment, you realize how zany it sounds.

Georgia played exactly four true road games all season. One of those came against Kentucky, the SEC’s second-worst team.

The Bulldogs also played neutral-site games against Clemson and Florida, but neither Sankey nor his staff determined the location of those games.

Why Kirby Smart came after SEC’s Greg Sankey

So, what’s Smart miffed about? Probably, that Georgia drew road games against Texas, Alabama and Mississippi, all of which are ranked in the top 15 of the latest CFP rankings.

Three stiff road tests. Georgia lost two and won one.

Undeniably, Georgia’s schedule qualifies as one of the nation’s toughest, but it compares to the schedules faced by Florida, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Mississippi State, LSU and Vanderbilt.

Want to compete in the SEC? That means playing some tough games.

Anyway, Smart should thank Sankey instead of complaining.

Thanks to Georgia’s SEC schedule draw, no team will enter the playoff more battle-tested than Smart’s Bulldogs.

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Also, as Smart well knows, road-home sites will flip next season, so Georgia will host Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss in 2025, when it plays just three true SEC road games, one against Tennessee and two against conference bottom dwellers Mississippi State and Auburn.

Think Smart will complain about that?

Kirby Smart sets up a new villain for Georgia to prove wrong

Smart, a motivational maestro, excels at creating straw men and rallying the Bulldogs to unite to take them down. Remember when Georgia’s Nolan Smith said the 2022 Bulldogs became fueled by experts projecting they’d go 7-5? Yeah, nobody sane said or thought Georgia would finish 7-5.

Sankey being cast as Georgia’s nemesis becomes the new “everyone thought we’d go 7-5!”

While playing the schedule the SEC handed down, Georgia built persistence and a healthy résumé. The Bulldogs own four wins against playoff-bound teams, more than any team under CFP consideration.

This won’t go down as Smart’s best team. Inconsistency became the theme of Georgia’s regular season. But, say this for these Bulldogs: They don’t go quietly into the night, even when they’re outplayed for most of the game – as they were Saturday, and as they were last week in an eight-overtime win against Georgia Tech.

Georgia rallied in the SEC championship game behind backup quarterback Gunner Stockton after Carson Beck exited with a first-half injury.

“We never panic,” Georgia running back Trevor Etienne said. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. It turns out being good for us. No matter what the situation is, no matter what happens, I believe in us.”

Georgia’s victory list includes a one-point escape against Kentucky, plus two overtime triumphs.

“Let’s find a way,” Etienne said of Georgia’s mentality. “That’s one of the best things about this team.”

Yes, indeed it is.

A lot of mental fortitude can be found within Georgia. It’s almost as if the Bulldogs were forged in the fires of playing difficult SEC opponents on the road.

“I’ve had more physically tough (teams, and) I’ve had more physically talented,” Smart said, “but I don’t know that I’ve ever had a more mentally tough team.

“They just keep coming and keep coming, and they never say die.”

Thanks a lot, Sankey, for preparing Georgia for the playoff’s rigors so darn well.

After Smart landed his postgame dagger at the commissioner, Sankey wrapped his arm around the Georgia coach later during the celebration and engaged him in conversation.

Only those two could tell you what was said in that moment, but if I could fill in the speech bubble, it would go like this: “Kirby, you’re welcome.”

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.