Best Of

I like the heck out of coach Smart, and I am very thankful to have him as our coach, but I don't think that's cool to call Jake Pope an idiot. Not cool at all for a coach to do that. He certainly could've chosen a better word. I don't know what Jake was thinking by "celebrating", but it is a bad look for him. I can certainly understand coach being unhappy about it, as I am as well, but I wouldn't call him an idiot. However, I would let him know privately that the transfer portal is available and waiting for him to leave.

As for Beck smiling, I was wondering what in the world was going on. Rashada was all in Beck's ear, and I didn't know what to make of it. I hope there is a mutual respect between the two.

Anyway…

GOOOOOO DAWGS!

BEAT TENNESSEE!

You can feel it, see it and sense it—the players have a definite lack of motivation. The Ole Miss players on the sideline were wound up, jumping and yelling all night. Nobody on the Georgia sideline showed any of that. This transferred directly to the field.

Yessir. Well, mostly, but I won't split hairs right here. It's definitely not a good luck for the QB to be smiling and laughing while so far behind so late in the game, but also, that's a 2-second view. Should we expect him to be completely dejected and shut off from any- and everyone? Didn't he just get flack for being off by himself the week before when things weren't the prettiest?

We're definitely lucky to have Coach Smart, and boo to the folks saying that he's just Mark Richt lucky enough to score T. Monken. Especially those saying that like it's a bad thing. Richt was a stand-up dude who made it his job to create a team of stand-up dudes. Smart is working against boatloads of money going to kids (yes, let's be real: kids) who have no idea what to do with it, a whole different landscape of outside influence, and the ever-present threat of excellent players being lured away by opportunity, and is still doing a solid job of creating a TEAM that focuses on the G, not the me.

Will I be bummed if we don't make the 12-team? Abso-freaking-lutely. I had crazy high hopes coming in this year. SEC Shorts knew exactly what they were, and how they'd be met about six games in…

BUT…

It's a different world now than what it was in '21. We lost to a team of mercenaries who, ultimately, could care less about wearing powder blue, as long as they've got some dollars in their pockets and a more likely chance of being recognized and moving into THE LEAGUE.

We've got a conundrum, really. If we don't like what NIL and changing NCAA portal rules are doing to the sport, do we still complain when what our team is doing isn't enough to compete with what all of the ins-and-outs of those create? I still believe that solid recruiting and development are anyone's best bet as far as culture goes.

On that note, though, I'm at a loss to say how anyone is actually developing this season. The coaching conversation is for a different rant…

At this point I looked at the Players we lost and the players we added via the TP…..Dawg Nation, we didn't do well….we seem to have bench riders, mediocre gap fillers, injured potential game changers, receivers that can't catch a cold, a potential game changer receiver, suspended, who seems to have been falsely accused, and now an idiot…..If Lane offers a clinic in the off season on "Making The TP Pay", Kirby need to be first in line.