Georgia’s Kirby Smart earns big bonus with win over Alabama

The No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs will be rewarded by the College Football Playoff selection committee for playing an extra game and defeating the No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday to win its second conference title in as many years.

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With a 28-7 win over Alabama at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Bulldogs are set to earn a first-round bye in the CFP when the selection committee releases the final bracket on Sunday.

With a dominant performance over the Crimson Tide, Georgia showed the nation it looks like a contender to win the national title in January. Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart has his team motivated to avenge their 23-10 loss to Notre Dame in the CFP quarterfinal last year.

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Smart earned an extra reward for Georgia’s win over Alabama. Per the Athens Banner-Herald, the 49-year-old head coach earned another $200,000 for winning the SEC championship.

“Smart already will receive $100,000 for the Bulldogs reaching Saturday’s SEC Championship game in Atlanta and that will increase to $300,000 should Georgia beat Alabama,” wrote Marc Weiszer.

Saturday was Smart’s fourth SEC championship victory as the head coach of the Bulldogs.

Earlier this week, Smart explained why winning the SEC championship means so much to him and Georgia.

“I mean, your back’s against the wall every week in this conference,” Smart said, via Sports Illustrated. “It’s not new to either team. So it’s the next one. You can’t make it bigger than it is. It’s a big moment. It’s the chance for an SEC Championship. Around our place they put numbers up in the banners in the hallways for when you win SEC Championships.

“That’s significant to me. These kids, these players, they want an opportunity to win this conference. They mostly grew up around this conference. They know how hard it is to achieve an SEC Championship. We want to be at our best. We got an elite opponent to go against to do it.”

Following the first-round bye, Smart and the Bulldogs will play another elite opponent in the CFP quarterfinals with some momentum after a blowout win of rival Alabama.

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