From the outside, Kirby Smart did not appear to take No. 2 Georgia's 41-34 loss to No. 4 Alabama hard. Having suffered his first regular-season loss of the soon-to-be-complete Joe Biden administration, Smart was gracious afterward. Magnanimous. Calm. Complimentary. All of the above.
It started immediately after the game, when Smart embraced his players before they left Saban Field.
Kirby Smart on why he made it a point to embrace his players coming off the field #UGA pic.twitter.com/XWYXaIY3Di
— Cody Chaffins (@CodyChaffins) September 29, 2024
He complimented his players' effort, especially after clawing back to take a (vanishingly brief) lead from a 28-0 second quarter deficit. "A tale of the two halves. Obviously, we were not really prepared, and that falls on me,"
He was effusive in his praise of Alabama stars Jalen Milroe and Ryan Williams.
"Great player. I mean, I got asked by the GameDay they crew before the game about what are you gonna do special for Ryan Williams? I said 'We can't do anything special.' They got a guy back there at quarterback who can be the best running back in the country, and he throws the ball. So you can't put two people on Ryan Williams," Smart said. "You can't do it. You got to make him make throws. We've known Ryan for a long time. He came to our place several visits. He's such a great kid."
But I thought Smart's graciousness best showed in his answer on falling to a personal 1-6 against Alabama. At 97-17 with two national championships, going 1-6 against his biggest competition is the one blight on what's already a first-ballot Hall-of-Fame resume, the one "Yeah, but..." in the discussion of his accomplishments.
Many men in his position would guard that sore spot, either by getting defensive about it, by lashing out at the question and the conversation around it, or some combination of the two. If there's any bitterness in Smart's answer here, it slipped by me.
"I don't know, what's everybody else's record against them? Has anybody got a better record against them than 1-6? I don't think so," Smart said.
For the record, Alabama has lost nine games since the beginning of the 2017 season -- twice apiece to Auburn and LSU, and once to Clemson, Georgia, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas. Gus Malzahn earned two of his three Iron Bowl wins during that period, while two different coaches led LSU to their victories. So, there's a list, but it's a short one.
"I think they've got really good players," he continued. "They've got a great program. I've got an immense amount of respect for them. They do a great job. Nick's recruited good players, Kalen's gotten good players in here. It's a tough battle. They've been really tough battles."
To Smart's point, most Alabama-Georgia games have been close:
-- Georgia held leads of 13-0, 20-7 and 23-20 before losing on the Tua-to-DeVonta haymaker in the 2017 national championship.
-- In the 2018 SEC Championship, Georgia led 28-14 deep in the third quarter before Alabama scored 21 straight over the final 18 minutes.
-- In 2020, Georgia led 24-17 late in the third quarter before Alabama scored 24 straight points over the final 15 minutes.
-- In Georgia's win, Alabama led 18-13 with 10 minutes to play and was driving to potentially force the game to overtime when Kelee Ringo's pick-six sealed the 2021 national championship.
-- The lead never changed hands in the 2023 SEC Championship, but it still ended 27-24.
And then there was Saturday, where the lead changed hands in consecutive plays in the game's final three minutes. Battles, indeed.
Smart is correct in that two of the seven have been in Tuscaloosa and, amazingly, none have been in Athens.
Seriously: in nine seasons as Georgia's head coach, Kirby Smart has not hosted Alabama once. The Tide's last visit to Sanford Stadium came on Oct. 3, 2015, a rain-soaked 38-10 Tide blowout that directly led to Smart's hiring.
Georgia will finally host Alabama next year, but in the meantime Saturday night's thriller could be the first of two or even three meetings this season.