Kirby Smart appeared on the Paul Finebaum Show on Friday evening in advance of Georgia’s crucial matchup vs. Tennessee on Saturday.

The Bulldogs are coming off of a deflating loss to Ole Miss this past weekend. It’s already their second regular-season loss of the season, and a third would put serious questions around whether or not they will make the College Football Playoff this season.

Finebaum asked Smart how he’s able to re-focus his team after a tough loss. He credited his mentor, Nick Saban, for his approach in that regard.

“I think I learned from a really smart guy at doing that,” the Georgia coach said. “He did a really good job of managing the next situation. And you’ve already thought out, you know, there’s 2 outcomes to every game. Usually you know you’re going to do one or the other.

“And you have a plan for each one of those and you want to be very direct in your leadership because the players hurt in those moments. They’re disappointed. They’re going to read bad things about themselves. You need to reassure them that all is not true.”

Here’s video of Smart’s comments:

Smart coached on Saban’s staff at Alabama from 2007-15. Excluding Saban’s first season, Alabama went 10-0 during regular season games immediately following a loss from 2008-2023.

Of course, Georgia’s season is far from finished despite sustaining 2 regular season losses before mid-November. The Bulldogs are currently No. 12 in the College Football Playoff rankings would would surely move up higher than that if they’re able to defeat the Vols on Saturday night.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET in Athens.