Is Georgia Bulldogs Coach Kirby Smart On The Hot Seat?
Hot Seat?
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The University of Georgia Bulldogs stumbled early on in 2019, losing a game in September to a South Carolina Gamecocks squad that would eventually end the season with a 4-8 record.
They battled back and scored big wins against the likes of Auburn and the University of Florida to propel them to a third consecutive SEC East Championship and a showdown against the Louisiana State University Tigers for the SEC Championship.
Given that they didn’t have to play Alabama, the specter that haunted them each of the previous two seasons, this seemed like a golden opportunity for Kirby Smart to right the ship after a disappointing follow-up season in 2018 to the 2017 College Football Championship run.
However, Joe Burrow and the Tigers showed up to Mercedes Benz Stadium and sealed their own CFB playoff spot instead.
Burrow blew the ink dry on his Heisman campaign with 349 passing yards and 4 touchdowns to boot. Jake, from State Fromm, managed 1 touchdown while throwing for 225 yards but tossed two interceptions as well.
It was, as I mentioned before, UGA’s second loss of the season, while LSU remained undefeated.
You have to wonder now if the Bulldog’s rabid (no pun intended) fan base is going to turn against Smart. Even though he was sending out a depleted roster to take on a Tigers team that averaged nearly 50 points per game during the season.
Kirby followed in the footsteps of Mark Richt, who – like Smart – took a season to get acclimated to Athens before winning the SEC Championship in his second year.
That victory was in 2002 and Richt earned another in 2005 before a decade of pretty good, but not quite great, football.
All the goodwill Richt earned by winning the first SEC Championship in 20 years had pretty much worn off by the time he was dismissed in 2015 and Richt remains a debated figure by the UGA faithful.
Smart may not get the 10 years that Richt had, but he led a team to the National Championship game and has taken steps back in the two years since.
Today’s coaches are on the hot seat the second they’re hired. Especially, in the SEC.
I’m not saying that Kirby Smart isn’t going to make it to the New Year with his job intact but he’s in definite danger after losing a second straight SEC Championship.
The Bulldogs seemed like they were trending up just a couple of short years ago, but that trend has seemingly done an about face.
A double-digit lead over Alabama in the 4th quarter in the National Championship Game in 2017 led to a loss.
A double-digit lead in the 3rd quarter in the SEC Championship the very next year led to a loss and to the exact same team, no less.
They followed that with an embarrassing Sugar Bowl loss to Texas. Now they’re entering Championship games as the underdog and the upsets aren’t happening.
That’s a dangerous path for an SEC coach to be on, especially with popular former Bulldog player & coach Mike Bobo suddenly in the unemployment line.
I know there have been calls for Kirby to bring Bobo onto his staff but now I wonder: after this loss and with this continuing trend of getting farther away from greatness, will those calls now change to calling for Bobo to replace Smart?
