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Kirby Smart didn’t lead Georgia to a three-peat, but the coach who thwarted that chase is out of his hair.
Nick Saban retired after leading Alabama to an SEC Championship Game win over the Bulldogs. With Smart’s former mentor moving to College GameDay, he’s positioned to be the top coach in the SEC, and perhaps all of college football.
Brad Crawford of 247Sports ranked Smart as the No. 1 SEC coach entering 2024. He topped LSU’s Brian Kelly, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian, and Saban’s successor, Kalen DeBoer.
“He’s the top coach in the sport and it’s not particularly close,” Crawford wrote of Smart. “No coach in the country recruits at a relentless level in landing superb classes like Smart, who inked the No. 1 class in 2024. Georgia is going to be a national championship threat for as long as Smart stays put in Athens and is able to keep quality assistants around him. If there’s a guy in the coaching ranks who could ever eclipse Nick Saban’s seven national titles, it’s Smart.”
Smart remains five national championships short of Saban, but he’s transformed Georgia into a powerhouse capable of following Alabama’s path as a mainstay contender. The former Crimson Tide defense coordinator has an 85.5 winning percentage (94-16) in Georgia with just two losses — both to Alabama for the SEC crown — in the last three seasons.
Georgia responded to its College Football Playoff exclusion with a record-setting 63-3 win over Florida State in the Orange Bowl. Smart has a 9-2 bowl record and a 5-1 CFP mark. (The one loss was to, you guessed it, Alabama.)
Smart’s path to another title will go through Tuscaloosa, as Georgia faces Alabama on Sept. 28. The Bulldogs also open the season against Clemson and will play Sarkisian’s Longhorns at Texas on Oct. 19.