Kirby: We Are Not Satisfied
HOOVER - Kirby Smart is getting better and better and succinctly boiling down things to quick phrases.
“Pressure is a reflection of ambition,” Kirby told the masses here on Tuesday.
Translation?
We have pressure to win the national title because our ambition is to win it all… right now… this year.
Then this from the fourth-year head man: “We understand how close we've been to taking the next step,” he said. “And although 24-5 the last two seasons is good, it's not good enough. It's not where we expect to be at the University of Georgia.”
There’s only one thing UGA hasn’t accomplished as a program in the last two years. I don’t think I need to spell that out.
What are we to make of Kirby’s talk this talking season? He’s not shy - that’s clear. He also understands that being close isn’t necessary a reflection that you will fail all of the time in the future. One failure, in other words, doesn’t mean the next failure is certain.
Alabama and Clemson can attest to that. Those two both lost the national title the year before they won it in 2016 and 2017. That didn’t happen for the Dawgs or Tigers in 2018, but Clemson was pretty well manhandled by Bama in New Orleans at the end of the 2017 season.
Georgia hasn’t been manhandled by Alabama since Kirby arrived. But UGA hasn’t won against the Tide since he’s coached those in Silver Britches, either. And today Kirby and the Dawgs made clear that they know what’s in the way… and it’s the Tide.
“(Alabama) is a physical team, but what I think that we’ve shown is that we can match that physicality,” Kirby said. “We haven’t finished that physicality, but we aren’t getting shoved around out there. And that is part of the deal against Alabama. You have to be able to play physical.”
If it wasn’t clear in Kirby’s introductory press conference when he talked about improving body size and physicality on the line of scrimmage, it's clear now: Georgia has a particular way it is going to play, and that way is very similar to the Alabama teams that dominated the turn of the decade.
That’s not Clemson’s style on offense, but the Tigers have had one of the best defensive fronts in college ball over the last few years. Before this new defensive prowess, Clemson was still perfecting the art of Clemsoning. The Tigers still throw past you on offense, but lately they’ve punched you in the gut on defense. They will have to manage a major transition on the defensive line this fall - maybe the punches won’t be as devastating.
Meanwhile, Alabama and the Dawgs will steady themselves towards a path that most everyone sees as an ending in a collision in Atlanta for the third season in a row. There will be planty of pressure and ambition that night.