Kirby Smart and the No. 4 Georgia Bulldogs (9-1) closed out SEC play over the weekend with a 35-10 win against the No. 10 Texas Longhorns (7-3).
Georgia now looks ahead to two non-conference games to finish the regular season, including a likely top-15 matchup with Georgia Tech on Black Friday. An SEC championship appearance is still in sight, as well as a College Football Playoff berth for UGA for the fourth time in five years.
It has been a long and grueling season for the Bulldogs. UGA has battled injuries and constant adversity week in and week out. Trailing in every conference game this season except Kentucky (5-5) and Texas, it has not been the easy sailing Georgia has grown used to under Smart. With that being said, six of those games ended in a victory for the Dawgs. Alabama (8-2) was the only time they could not complete the comeback.
The NIL and transfer portal era has made it increasingly harder for programs like Georgia to consistently stay on top. Spreading out talent, which has led to a lack of depth among college football’s powerhouses, has created massive parity in the sport. Consequently, the job for coaches like Kirby Smart has become much more difficult.
Watching Georgia go down early in games, some have claimed that the reign of dominance was over.
Yet, the Dawgs are still on top. Through all the challenges, Smart has found a way to maintain excellence even if it doesn’t look quite the same.
How does he do it? Speaking to the media Saturday after the home victory over Texas, Kirby commented on his program’s mentality.
“We build our core culture around being the more physical team.” Smart Said. “A lot of these kids want a check. They don’t want physicality. If you have the check and no physicality, you end with nothing. You’re not just getting checks at our place. We’re hitting people.”
The Longhorns have been known to showcase an extravagant lifestyle when hosting recruits. They famously have high-end UT color sports cars on display during visits.
Monday, Smart gave his thoughts on players who choose to leave Georgia for other schools.
Kirby told the media:
“We schedule them. The ones that want to leave, we schedule them. We try to get them on the schedule, because when they want to leave, because they’re not physical, that means they’re probably going to a place that’s not physical. We like those places; we like to play them. We prefer them, actually, if you can get them on the schedule. So, it’s one of those deals that you don’t run from hard in life. You run from hard in life, you’ll find more hard.”
UGA’s two-time national championship–winning coach has made it clear on and off the field that this new era of the sport will not stop Georgia from being Georgia.
