Kirby Smart Complimentary of Texas Longhorns Ahead of SEC Championship: 'They Earned It!'

No one thought they could do it, but they did.

In Year 1 in the conference, the Texas Longhorns have made it to the SEC Championship in Atlanta, where they are set to take on the Georgia Bulldogs.

Yes, many in the media tabbed Texas as a contender for the conference title heading into the season. However, the prevailing narrative amongst the majority of fans and SEC traditionalists was that the Longhorns were not ready for 'the SEC grind' and were in for a rude awakening.

Obviously, that was not the case. Texas went 11-1 with the best regular season record in the conference, and are a win away from taking home the SEC Championship in their first season in the league, much like they did with the Big 12 in 1996.

On Thursday, Georgia Kirby Smart made it clear that he believes the Horns deserved to be in this position.

“You’re asking if I’m surprised by them being in the game?," Smart said. “They earned it. They played an SEC schedule. They won the most games of any SEC team this year. They’re a tremendous program. They’re built that way. They’re built to do that. They’ve got a tremendous amount of talent, and they’ve done a great job building to that, recruiting to that, that fanbase, that team. And they’ve done a great job of that.”

No, the Longhorns SEC slate was not the toughest in the conference. That honor belongs to Smart's Bulldogs, who took on Three top-10 teams and a No. 16 Ole Miss just in regular season SEC play alone, as well as a No. 2 Texas team in the title game, and a No. 14 ranked Clemson team that is set to play in the ACC Championship game on Saturday.

But Texas' schedule was not anything to sneeze at either. Yes, it was not as difficult as it seemed before the season began, but the Longhorns played five ranked teams and beat four of them, with the only loss coming to the Bulldogs in October. They have also thoroughly handled the majority of their schedule with relative ease, and imposed their will throughout the season.

And now, they get their chance to prove their mettle one more time when they take the field this Saturday in Atlanta, where they will have a chance to ostensibly erase their only blemish on one of the biggest stages in the sport.

Kickoff is a 3 pm CT on ABC.

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