Yes, This is a Big Moment for UGA Football's Kirby Smart, Too
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ATHENS - So how big a deal is this weekend’s game with No. 1 Texas for UGA Football coach Kirby Smart?
That’s a good question.
We’ve gone four years without Georgia losing four regular season games total. We’ve seen Georgia win two national titles. We’ve seen Georgia become the best program in college football. We’ve seen UGA be totally dominant... often.
But things always change, and the question is if this weekend - no matter the outcome - is a sign of change for the Dawgs. I know this… SEC coaching has gone offensive heavy lately, and Texas is a great example of that.
Steve Sarkisian is as good a play caller as there is in football - not just college football. Go watch what he did at Alabama in 2020… that was a thing of beauty. A thing of beauty with some serious skill position players, but a thing of beauty nonetheless.
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Under Sark it looks like Texas is finally becoming what it should be - a national power.
Georgia saw the same thing in year two of Kirby’s time in Athens - barnstorming the 2017 season to the program’s first SEC title in 12 years and coming one play away from winning it all over Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Its just that Kirby did it when defense first.
Six games into 2024 we’ve seen Georgia lose to Alabama, dominate Clemson, beat State and Auburn and escape Kentucky. This will be the third game in seven against a team ranked in the top ten this week. No on has been more tested than Georgia so far in 2024.
And the term “so far” might be the critical part of all of this… we are in middle October. We aren’t even close to the end of the season. Sure, UGA has played four SEC games so far this season while Texas has only managed two. But in both cases we have a long way to go before the off ramp of 2024.
However, it sure does seem like this game is important in terms of Kirby’s perceived grip on power at the top of college football. It is hard to know for sure that something is or continues to ascend when it has been at the top. Texas, it sure seems, is ascending for sure. We can’t really say that about Georgia right now. If anything Georgia has leveled off or ticked down slightly.
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The loss to Alabama may or may not have been a one-off, but the defense’s performance against the Tide and now State can’t lead to a ton of confidence heading into Austin this weekend. Texas has scored at least 30 points each game this year.
Under Kirby, the Dawgs have only allowed more than 30 points ten times since 2017. That’s already happened twice this year (State and Alabama). That’s certainly not been the norm for those in Silver Britches. Now, if UGA continues to roll up points like they have this season - non-Lexington category - allowing more points might not that matter that much.
But you would rather have both an elite offense and defense. Can we say that right now about the Dawgs? If you are asking the question that means the answer is probably not.
That’s why this weekend feels important - and not just because of facing the No. 1 team on the road for the first time in school history (non-COVID category). In 132 years of playing football, Georgia has never had the heavy lift of playing against the No. 1 team in the country in front of full crown on the road.
This is a monumental challenge - for UGA and Kirby.
A new era of the SEC has arrived, and while losses aren’t what they used to be we have to be honest in saying that the offensive firepower in the league sure seems elevated, too. Tennessee under Josh Heapul isn’t Tennessee under Butch Jones. Ole Miss under Lane Kiffin isn’t the Rebels under Matt Luke. Texas under Sark isn’t the train wreck that Texas has been under everyone since Mack Brown.
With the good there is also the bad: Oklahoma ain’t exactly putting up numbers under Brent Venables the same way it did under Lincoln Riley, but Riley isn’t exactly racking up wins in Los Angeles these days, either. Florida? Auburn? Everyone isn’t rolling.
But the teams at the “top” of the new SEC seem like they are really good at scoring (it really appeared that way before in September - before Kentucky drop-kicked the Rebels into reality). How does Kirby, perhaps the coach in the SEC (and perhaps the country) most defined with the defensive side of the ball, navigate what seems to be an even more pronounced offensive world in the league?
I don’t know, but this weekend will tell us may well tell us all we need to know about the new future of the SEC.