Kirby Smart Isn't Buying What Gus Malzahn is Selling

ATHENS - Kirby isn’t buying what Gus is selling. 

Earlier Tuesday Auburn coach Gus Malzahn told reporters that Georgia is "probably the most talented team overall in the SEC.”

So I asked Kirby what he made of that declaration. 

“That’s called coach speak,” Kirby, an expert on the subject, confirmed. “So, thanks Gus. He has the most talent in SEC.”

Take that Nick Saban!

It doesn’t feel like Georgia-Auburn yet. Nothing feels right, but at least the two coaches of the schools are coach speaking at a new level. Vince Dooley would be proud. 

Las Vegas sees this as somewhere around a touchdown game, with the Dawgs favored at home. Georgia probably does have more talent than Auburn, but the Tigers know who their signal caller is for sure. It doesn’t appear, right now, that Georgia does. 

So that’s something that’s certainly in the Tigers’ favor. Both of these coaches have been around a while. They know how important skill is. Jimmys and Joes have always been the best thing to have in your arsenal when you run onto the field Saturdays in the fall. 

And these two programs have plenty. 

They also fight one another in the recruiting game, which is where the talent comes from. Over the years Auburn and Georgia have fought for a slew of players. George Pickens comes to mind as a recruiting fight between the two schools that nearly go ugly. 

Then there are the players from Georgia who have had so much success as Tigers. Cam Newton, Takeo Spikes and Ronnie Brown are three in the last thirty years. No one hurts for talent in this rivalry. 

And unlike so many of UGA’s alleged “rivalries” this actually is one. Here is the rule for Georgia’s rivalries - if it has a nickname its a rivalry. If it does not have a nickname it’s simply a big game. 

Georgia-Auburn, the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, most certainly is a rivalry, and the Tuesday back a forth proves it.