We all know Kirby Smart as that defensive wizard who snagged national championships at Alabama and then did it again as the head coach at Georgia. Winning 6 national championships and racking up 7 SEC wins is no small feat. But if you take a closer look, a bit of a pattern starts to emerge that raises some questions. Why does Kirby keep winning trophies, even after losing half his squad every season? Urban Meyer seems to have some thoughts on that.
Picture this: you are a team at the top of your game and lose just one game in the 2023 season, and after the season ends, almost 45 players in your roster, including 15-20 key players, exit the program. How will you cope in the 2024 season? The common guess would be that there will be at least some downgrade in 2024, right? But Kirby Smart went through an exact scenario. At the end of the 2024 season, he came out with an SEC championship and a playoff berth. Isn’t it a bit paradoxical?
Urban Meyer, the former Ohio State head coach, was asked the same question on the 28th May episode of ‘The Triple Option’ podcast. Meyer straight-up replied with the reason and why it may have been deliberately planned by Kirby Smart.
“I’m sitting here looking. Here you go, boy. Look at the Oh, Lord. Georgia’s schedule. They are playing nine (home games). This is an SEC schedule, man.” One of the hosts interjected and remarked, “Well, you can’t control the schedule.” While Urban Meyer agreed that controlling the schedule is not possible, he gave another way through which Kirby Smart controls it.
“The schedule’s what it is for SEC-wise. Of course. No, you can’t control it by scheduling. But you can control Marshall, Austin Peay, and Charlotte. And they got nine, count them, nine home games. Yeah, come on, Kirby. What in the world was that?” And the former OSU head coach is maybe on to something here. Even last year, when Georgia’s schedule was probably touted to be the toughest in the country, the favorable games were strategically positioned to reduce the workload and maybe give a slight edge.
PASADENA, CA – JANUARY 01: Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer celebrates winning the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2019 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
In the 2023 season, Georgia lost 13 players to the NFL draft, including their best tight end in history, Brock Bowers. Apart from him, Amarius Mims, their O-line stalwart, went to the NFL, and Ladd McConkey went in the second round, along with several others, totaling 13. Yet, the team went on to win the SEC championship even without Carson Beck. Why?
Georgia’s home games against Auburn, Tennessee Tech, Mississippi State, and UMass were pretty easy. Tennessee Tech (2-9) and UMass (2-10) were two of the weakest teams in FBS. Even Georgia Tech is not at the level of their SEC rivals. However, the game turned out to be difficult for the Dawgs and ended up going to overtime. This trend of having home games lined up in a favorable way isn’t new and looks like it’ll be back again in 2025.
2025 season going to be an SEC-favored schedule for Georgia?
In 2025, Georgia’s schedule does have some of the fiercest opponents, including Alabama, Texas, Florida, and Tennessee. But three of these games are at home or at a neutral venue (Florida), and only Tennessee is on the road for Smart. Moreover, the home games against Marshall and Austin Peay at the beginning of the season will give them the winning momentum that they would want to beat Tennessee in the third week. Even Ole Miss at home wouldn’t be that challenging, including the Kentucky game at home. Urban Meyer pointed to this very thing for 2025.
“We’re going to go on the road at Mississippi State, which is not that hard right now. Auburn, I don’t know, Auburn’s been down a little. And then you got Tennessee. That’s the real one…. Look at that schedule. It’s, I know, what an SEC schedule is,” said Urban Meyer. So the schedule could be the biggest reason why Smart can even now cope this year with high departures to the draft.
In the 2025 draft, Kirby Smart lost 11 players, including Jalen Walker, Tate Ratledge, and Arian Smith. Now, one can argue that a top team can get its production from the players in the pipeline already, but still, replicating those wins season after season is never easy, with consistent departures to the NFL and the portal. Yet Georgia is doing that, so that’s that. Does that mean a playoff spot is guaranteed for the Dawgs? It does look favorable. However, while Urban Meyer’s take is interesting, no one can take away from the fact that Georgia’s recruiting has been top-notch since Kirby Smart took over the program.
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