Is Kirby Smart's Georgia Bulldog Program the Best in College Football Right Now?
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ATHENS - Has Kirby Smart’s Georgia Bulldogs program become the best in the country?
It might be. In sports, it is always hard to know when something has started, but even more difficult to tell when something has ended. The middle seems easier to diagnose.
For instance, heading into Super Bowl XXXVI, the Patriots were heading into their first Super Bowl since the middle 1990s. The were starting a quarterback that seemed to be filling in for Drew Bledsoe. The Pats were 14-point underdogs. They won that game, and proceeded to play in eight more Super Bowls in the next 17 seasons - a run the likes of which the NFL has never seen.
And last week’s NFL Combine was a moment in time that allows us to reflect on where the Georgia Bulldogs are at the moment - fresh of the first national title in more than four decades. Players like Jordan Davis are proving to be legendary already for his role at the Combine.
Travon Walker hit a massive number in his 40-yard dash. Nakobe Dean, Devonte Wyatt, everyone else... Georgia’s players put on a show in Indy - just like they did against Alabama in early January.
The players that rolled through Georgia in 2021 got the full treatment of the UGA program under Kirby Smart. All of the little things that he asked for, and many of the big things, were in place when they arrived - or happened when they were in Athens.
The program, unlike in 2017, is at full maturity.
So looking forward the logical question is just how often should we expect to see what we saw in Indy in January as well as March? The short answer is: “more often”. How much more depends on what happens in the landscape of college football, and more acutely, how well Georgia does in developing the talent it signs, or has transferred in.
College football appears to be a three-team fight right now between Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State. Those three are the only schools who have played for a national title this decade. They are also the three that have been most consistent in terms of winning.
The Dawgs and Buckeyes are the only two schools in America that have played in a New Year’s Six bowl game each year since the 2017 season - each winning a Sugar and Rose Bowl. Georgia added a win in the Orange and Peach. The Buckeyes have won another Rose.
Meanwhile, Alabama has won more national titles than anyone since 2017 (2). The Tide has played for more as well. It sure seems like Bama is still the best program in the country, but that’s looking backwards - right?
Can we say the same moving forward? That’s unknowable. When Kirby Smart took over the Dawgs in 2016 he had them in the CFP National Championship Game a season later. Will Brian Kelly pull that off at LSU? What about Lincoln Riley at USC?
Will the next ten years be as good to Clemson and Alabama as the previous ten?
That’s hard to believe.
Is it hard to believe Georgia has more national titles in its future?
Not really.
So that’s the question. Where are we headed? Time will tell, but recruiting and develop matters more than anything. Does anyone do that better than Georgia right now?