Georgia Bulldogs‘ relationship with Kirby Smart will always be a pleasant one, no matter what transpires. And why shouldn’t it be? The man has won everything possible since arriving in Athens in 2016. 3 National Championship final appearances and 2 wins, on top of that 3 SEC championship wins are not a joke. And, thus anyone criticizing him will definitely think twice before uttering any words. But, it seems the same achievements have ultimately set the bar very high for the Bulldogs’ fans. And anything less than that looks a bit not up to the standards set by the great Nick Saban in college football in general. And, something like that has been brewing on the internet recently.
Well, the 2024 season for Kirby Smart can be interpreted two ways for any person following Georgia. First is undoubtedly his achievement to win the SEC, which may overshadow all seemingly negative aspects of Smart in the season. The second way is to take up the Saban scale and measure all aspects of Smart’s exploits of the 2024 season. And, before you jump to the conclusion and say that’s not at all fair. A reminder: Smart was after all a pupil of Saban for more than 8 years at Alabama as DC and Assistant head coach, furthermore, he is the only head coach who has inherited the ‘best coach in college football’ title after Saban’s departure. So, let’s see how he fared in 2024.
If one has to put it bluntly, then Saban’s 2024 season was filled with results that didn’t really showcase any problems on the surface. But, a deeper dive into those results would open a pandora’s box that would contain, offensive problems, rushing problems throughout the season, and basic receiving struggles. And that’s not even exaggerating the facts in any way. For context, hear this…
Georgia was placed at 77th position this year on third down conversions (39.2%), which was a humongous downgrade from their 2023 season when they ranked first with a 55.2% conversion rate. This problem also forced them at times to go for it on 4th downs, which became a bigger problem, culminating in their Sugar Bowl loss against Notre Dame. And, if that doesn’t satisfy you, then there’s more.
Their rushing game was also very disappointing throughout the season in which they averaged only 124 yards per game, which is undoubtedly the worst in Smart’s tenure since 2016 at Georgia. Furthermore, their QB Carson Beck and Gunner Stockton later faced passing issues due to their team’s poor receiving game, with almost 36 drops this season. That was more than the teams like Texas and Ole Miss. Moreover, their QB faced almost 37 sacks in the 2024 season, which also points out issues with their O-line. The only reason Georgia managed to finish the season at 11-3 is because of their elite coaching staff and top-class players when compared to other programs. But what’s next?
Fans’ review of Kirby Smart’s exploits
Well, Coach Kirby Smart did reflect on the season after their team’s loss in the Sugar Bowl against the Irish, “ The loss takes nothing away from these men on the stage and the seniors that are a part of this class. I mean, absolutely incredible. I just told them, what they went through this year and what they played and how they played, the resiliency, the injuries that we’ve had, and to win an SEC championship — which I have so much respect for our conference — and to win some of the comeback games they won and never quit, even in this game, never quit, that’s the attitude you’ve got to have to get better as a football program.”
Surely, the players have, without a doubt, played their best throughout the season. Furthermore, Carson Beck’s injury also sparked a QB crisis within Georgia that may have in some way influenced the later games. However, their fans look far from satisfied.
The fans reacted to a poll on the question of whether Smart is best in college football. It was posted on a prominent Instagram page called ‘cfbalerts’, which has almost 378K followers, many of which are supporters of Georgia too. The poll’s results were astoundingly shocking, with only 38% of the people reacting ‘yes’ to the question and a majority (62%) reacting with ‘n0′. That may also point toward the general dissatisfaction with people and disagreement with Smart’s exploits. Or it may just be a vocal minority venting their opinion on Instagram. Who knows?
But, the fans’ frustration should also be taken with a bit of a pinch of salt that Georgia had one of the toughest fixtures in all of the teams. So, it’s understandable, too, that they faced losses on the road to Alabama and Ole Miss. To put that more clearly, they faced three teams that played in the college football playoffs, and in total, their 5 opponents were ranked top 16 in the CFP rankings. So, while their losses are glaring in some way, Kerby Smart can still be given some leeway in terms of strength of schedule and his history with the team in general. What are your thoughts?
The post Years After Waiting for Nick Saban’s Departure, Kirby Smart Fails to Take Over Reins as 378K Fans Judgement Turns Heads appeared first on EssentiallySports.
