Kirby Smart is making his case for a place on the SEC football coaches’ Mount Rushmore alongside legends Paul “Bear” Bryant, Nick Saban and Steve Spurrier.
Smart and his Bulldogs recently became just the third program to go undefeated in back-to-back SEC seasons since the league split into division play in 1992.
UGA has also developed more NFL draft picks under Smart’s leadership than other collegiate programs over the past four NFL drafts, including last year’s record-breaking group:
Georgia 38
Alabama 36
Ohio State 35
LSU 32
Smart does not look back, however, and certainly not this week.
Georgia plays host to Georgia Tech at noon on Saturday.
The Bulldogs are a 35 1/2-point favorite, but UGA’s seventh-year head coach has been locked in on the Yellow Jackets, reminding everyone that “humility is always a week away” in football.
“Probability doesn’t equal reality,” Smart said. “Games aren’t played on paper, they are played on grass.”
Smart pointed to the close calls Michigan and Ohio State had last week, and how Florida and Tennessee lost as heavy favorites in games against Vanderbilt and South Carolina.
“Reality is what you do on the field, and you control that by how you prepare,” Smart said. “I’m a lot more worried about preparation than I am probability.”
The reality is also that it has taken a complete staff and team effort for Georgia to be on the verge of another championship run and a place atop the SEC, passing Alabama.
Several players have stepped up at different times, from the most famous ($1 million NIL earner Stetson Bennett), to perhaps the most anonymous (Australian freshman punter Brent Thorson).
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