No. 1 Georgia's Smart, Bullard insist school-record winning streak brings no added stress

Updated Oct. 23, 2023 3:59 p.m. ET

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ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Javon Bullard looked surprised when asked if stress accompanies No. 1 Georgia's school-record 24-game winning streak.

“Not at all,” the junior safety said Monday. “I don’t even know what winning streak we’re on. We’re trying to win every game, so it really doesn’t matter. We go into every game with the same mindset.”

Georgia (7-0, 4-0 Southeastern Conference) is No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for the 19th consecutive week, the third-longest streak ever and the longest in SEC history. The Bulldogs play Florida on Saturday in Jacksonville.

Georgia's winning streak began with a 34-11 victory over Michigan in the 2021 Orange Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal. Georgia has won back-to-back national championships, including a 65-7 win over TCU in last season's title game.

The Bulldogs have won a school-record 34 consecutive regular-season games. That streak began with a victory over Mississippi State on Nov. 21, 2020. Also at stake on Saturday will be Georgia's 23 straight wins in SEC games, matching the school record from 1980-83.

Coach Kirby Smart probably would appreciate Bullard shrugging off the question about pressure accompanying the streaks. Similarly, Smart said he doesn't focus on how many consecutive games his Bulldogs won.

“Don’t think about it a lot,” Smart said. “I mean, what consumes me is how we’re going to gain a yard, what we’re going to do in this situation, what we’re going to do at practice. I can’t speak for every kid on the team, but the focus is not on the wins and losses of the games.”

Inevitably, the streaks will end. Georgia, which beat Vanderbilt 37-20 on Oct. 14 before having an off week, has looked less dominant at times this season. The Bulldogs' best player, tight end Brock Bowers, is expected to miss at least a month after hurting his ankle in the win over the Commodores.

Sophomore Oscar Delp is expected to fill in for Bowers, who leads the team with 41 catches for 567 yards and four touchdowns. Delp has 13 catches for 160 yards and two touchdowns.

“Delp has been fine,” Smart said. “We are not asking Delp to do anything different than he’s normally done.”

Smart wouldn't speculate Monday on Bowers' recovery schedule, but losing the big-play threat adds more difficulty to the Bulldogs' hopes of surviving their next four conference games against Florida, Missouri, Mississippi and Tennessee without a loss.

“Like I’ve said all the time, that’s going to come to an end,” Smart said of the winning streaks. "I’ve been part of a lot of streaks. That’s going to come to an end at some point, and when it does, we’ll worry about the next game. I don’t think you can be consumed with that thought process or think that way. You got to think towards what you can do to help your team win.”

Georgia’s No. 1 streak in the AP Top 25 began on Oct. 9, 2022, and trails only Miami’s streak of 21 weeks from 2001-02 and Southern California’s 33 in a row from 2003-05.

NOTES: Smart said he hoped to learn more at practice Monday about the chances that Georgia's offensive line could have RT Amarius Mims and LG/RT Xavier Truss back from ankle injuries this week. Freshman RT Monroe Freeling moved into the lineup when Truss was injured against Vanderbilt.

___ Get alerts on the latest AP Top 25 poll throughout the season. Sign up here ___ AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

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