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Steve Spurrier sets fans straight on Georgia coach Kirby Smart, value of SEC championship
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Steve Spurrier sets fans straight on Georgia coach Kirby Smart, value of SEC championship
ATHENS — Steve Spurrier was out golfing on Wednesday and had a Georgia football thought.
Comments
Who is Todd Gurney? 2021?
I’m not a Spurrier fan, but I do have to respect his coaching record as far as wins and Big wins. And I certainly agree with his take on Kirby and winning the SECCG.
Winning B2B Nattys is both a blessing and in a way a curse. The winning gives us as Dawgs fans chest thumping rights and that’s always fun. But it also raises the bar in the minds of many that Only a Natty win is sufficient.
While Kirby and the Dawgs should Always strive for the very top of excellence in CFB, winning a Natty every year is not realistic. That’s even more so now in the NIL, TP, and 12 team playoffs that make up CFB now.
All said the 2024 Dawgs did really, really well. And should be remembered as a very, very good football team. I don’t think it will take long before Kirby and the Dawgs will hold the trophy up again with ticker tape falling from the sky !! With Kirby as HC the Dawgs will always be right there in the mix, snarling and biting their way to another Championship trophy !! Go Dawgs !!
He was known for “stretcher” plays wasn’t he ?? 🤣
I clearly understand the long and deep seated dislike many Dawg fans have for Coach Spurrier. My perspective is somewhat different. I grew up in Florida and was a huge Gator fan through high school. I was at Florida Field (later known as "The Swamp") in November 1966 when Florida narrowly beat an at best middling Auburn team in their last SEC game of the year. The significance of the game was NOT my attendance but how Florida won that game and the consequence of it. Florida and Auburn were tied (I think 28-28) when Auburn had to punt to Florida with about 1:30 left in the game. Spurrier drove his team down the field, but the Gators stalled at about the Auburn 27 yard line. The Gators had a pretty good field goal kicker, but there were no soccer style kickers then. The man's range did not go beyond 40 yards. Florida had to bring in their long field goal kicker. That was Mr. Spurrier. He made the kick. The significance was that Steve was in a nip and tuck battle for the Heisman Trophy with the great Bob Griese of Purdue. That added talent was what gave Spurrier the statue. Incidentally, the only loss Florida had that season was a 10-27 debacle to Kirby Moore, Bill Stanfill and the rest of our Bulldogs! The following fall, I came to my senses, enrolled at UGA, and the rest is history.
I know coach Fran had a great season and I don't want to take anything away from him, but it's a lot easier with the Tpand NIL to turn a losing team around in a year than in the "old days" where you just had to go out and recruit better than your peers and convince kids to come and play for you at a bad program.
I hold CKS in the highest, highest most high regard! So do 99.9% of the Bulldog Nation. Kirby's weakness, though, seems to be his tendance to hire his friends as assistant coaches instead of hiring the very best coaches in the nation. We have seen a general slide in the quality department of our assistant coaches since our high point in 2021. It is expected that such a successful program will inevitably lose talented assistant coaches for promotions and career opportunities at other programs. That said, Smart must do comprehensive national searches to replace these talented coaches with equal or better quality. Letting coaches like Mike Bobo back into UGA's program after a mediocre first tenure and serial failures at other schools was not a good decision. Hiring coaches like Searles who has been on just about every SEC team at one point or another is another example. Hiring mediocre coaches who specialize in recruiting is also not ideal. Smart must do the work to find the best who are elite coaches and recruiters. Nothing less. These coaches also rate market-driven salaries ad the best in the field. If we invest in our assistant coaches and avoid biased selections, the potential of UGA's football program are boundless. If we do not, then…
In general—for obvious reasons—I could not care less what S. Spurrier says…
I'll take this, though!
GO DAWGS!
IMO....You are all wrong about Bobo. Let's be fair.
He was tutored by Mark Richt and passed with flying colors.
Took the head coaching position at Colorado St. Yes…the sister school to Colorado. A University system that hasn't produced much since the '90s.
Hell...Colorado could barely spawn a winning season, even with the likes of a Heisman winner and the Sanders road show. So, I don't put a lot of blame on Bobo. If any kind of blame lies at Bobo's feet....it was a bonehead move, to take that job in the first place. Lol
A season at Carolina and half a season at Auburn....in the middle of house cleaning and coaching changes….is hardly enough time to unpack your bags, much less "build an offense". No blame there, either....IMO.
This is Bobo's first real OC position, without the CMR safety net. Stockton is "his guy". Bobo recruited him when he was with Muschamp at SC. He's had 2 years to build....let's see what he can do.
I think Bobo is gonna shock some people this year. This will be "his" offense. Shock & Awe baby!!! Go get em Big Red. Go to work. Lol
DeBoer got his old OC at Washington, finally. He's going to be coaching by all accounts a very talented freshman QB. BAMA averaged less points per game than we did in 2024 . It will be interesting to see how both our and their offenses do moving forward.
Somehow with some of the best talent(according to those who rate such things) in the country in recruiting, both BAMA and UGA were under 32 points per game. I think both teams have great talent. We have addressed our WR short comings.
The last time BAMA's coach was a college OC his team was playing for a NC. That team beat Oregon twice and Texas in the CF playoff, but lost to perhaps the best MIchigan defense in many years.
So, we'll see how things shake out. One coach demoted his OC but retained him on the staff(they have a history together) after one dismal scoring season, and the other coach has obviously opted to retain his old friend as the OC, despite a down year in scoring.
Both decisions could be the right one for them, or one coach's decision may prove better than the others. Time will tell.
The way I see it....due to an abnormal number of injuries, legal issues and WR/OL coaching & key personnel changes....the Dawg's "offense" was quasi-talented with very little depth, off & on throughout the season. Most of UGA's talent was on the defense....which performed admirably all season, despite dealing with depth issues and injuries of it's own.
2024 was an off year….AND....they still won the SECC with a first round bye, in the CFP. Just think about that a minute.
Nah….UGA's setup for success, no matter who the QB or OC is. But, it would be nice to see em operate the way, some of Richt & Bobo's old offenses operated.
The Dawgs offense has always been loaded, IMO. Defense has been the Achilles Heel, going back to the "post Erk Russell years"...right up to the time UGA hired Smart.
There were a couple of decent defenses mixed in here and there, under Van Gorder and Pruitt.....but, nothing like, the consistency and standard developed under Smart.
Dawgs Win Again! Lol…go git em Big Red!
@BigDawg61
i just think it's interesting or will be to watch BAMA's and our offenses moving forward. Both teams are in a sense starting over on offense. BAMA lost several receivers in the TP, and like us, has to reload either with incoming FR or through the portal. Although they retained the Williams kid. UGA should have the advantage at QB with either GS or RP, who have been in the system now for either 1-2 years respectively and should "know" the offense..
THere are, as they say, many ways to skin a cat. And all that truly matters is winning or losing. Whether that's by defense or offense or the right combination of the two. All that to say winning covers up flaws.
IF BAMA's offense starts raking in the yardage and points with their new OC and we sort of treadwater with ours, then there will be calls for Bobo to be fired. I'm not saying they will but if BAMA comes to Athens and runs(passes) up and down the file against us and we do like we did in so many games last year, look anemic on offense, I could see the stuff hitting the fan with a lot of the faithful. I'm hoping our offense woes are behind us and it's clear sailing moving forward and we get better players on offense who can catch and get open and block since the 2024 team couldn't. BUt if and when we do improve on offense I don't want the coaches getting the credit since they certainly didn't take any of the blame for our offensive woes in 2024. At least nothing that I have read.
Maybe Stetson was right after all, it's all about the Jimmies and Joes and not so much the coaching(x's and o's).
Everything you said, rings true.
And…you're not wrong wrt the comparison between Bammer and the Dawgs. That's gonna happen regardless....but, this year....they seem to be starting out from the same mark, offensively. It'll be very interesting to see what Deboer can do in the SEC with that West Coast mentality.
I would be in total shock, if Bama "came to UGA thinkin' there's a soul to steal"....just cause Deboer's "in a bind...way behind…& lookin' to make a deal". Lol. [ref., CDB Devil Went Down to Georgia]. Sorry....couldn't resist the reference. I would finish it...but, you get the gist. Lol
The biggest question with Alabama, in my mind....is, how far will their defense fall? Or....will they? I believe the Dawgs defense can handle most anything, Deboer can throw at em. But.…can Bama say the same? Idk.
IMO...Deboer hasn't developed or enforced that Saban Standard on the defensive side of the ball. Their defense, just didn't have that same swagger, last year….despite beat UGA.
I see a lot more question marks in Tuscaloosa, than I do in Athens. For obvious reasons. I guess we'll find out what Deboer is made of, this year. We already KNOW that Kirby is made of the right stuff.
Bama over UGA?....'twixt the Hedges?? I don't believe it. Now, Texas? That's another issue. Game of the year….IMO.