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Many Dawgs fans see the Smart era as UGA football’s best ever
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Posts: 10,484 admin
Many Dawgs fans see the Smart era as UGA football’s best ever
Are we witnessing the all-time “golden age” of Georgia football?
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These Championships that the CKS - led Dawgs have won are extra sweet because they were accomplished during the Saban era. CKS knows first hand what has made the Saban era so iconic because he played a major role in it. I would compare winning SEC Championships and National Championships during the Saban era to winning Major Championships during the Tiger Woods era.
I think the point is well made that this UGA success is very sustainable because it’s not built around a single superstar. This success will span years because of the culture. I believe that the best players in the country are at least considering UGA, if not committing, because the culture is perfect for winning championships and developing players for whatever is next for them.
GO DAWGS!
Great article, Bill.
One thing: We are Georgia!
Maybe Georgia is the new king. I'm not sure we've arrived just yet at the peak of our success, but knowing things like that, future things, is impossible. Knowing the past, and not the future, this is the Golden Age of Georgia Football.
(We are for sure 100% not the new Alabama. We don't want to be Forrest Gump University. Our players go to class. Kirby Smart recruits smart players. Paul Finebaum can't make a sentence without saying Bama, but Georgia fans and sportswriters can and should. Leave the others in the dust along with their names whenever possible.)
It is also the golden age of college football.
Why?
#1. The good guys (that's us) are on top. We play as a team. It shows. It works. It's sustainable.
#2. Success is earned now. In the past it was too often bestowed on undeserving teams in the same way the current Joe Moore Joke and similar awards are now bestowed on undeserving players and position groups.
#3. Across the board at all levels, college football games are oftentimes exciting, competitive, entertaining, and, frankly, exhibitions of athleticism, talent, speed, fitness, training, and coaching which simply didn't exist back in the day.
#4. The best team in college football recently put on an exhibition by beating the second best team 65-7!
#5. No team wearing Úgly Orange survived the season unscathed.
#6. Tosu and Michigan once again failed to match up. Tosu might argue the point but they've forgotten it's a four quarter game.
#7. Alabama is bítching and moaning because the era of entitlement admissions to the playoff is either over or in remission.
Go, Dawgs!
I don't see how it's even a question. In the last two years, the total number of national championships for the program has doubled. And as most who are quoted in the article point out, there's been no indication that it's slowing down anytime soon. Only a small handful of positions need to pan out for next season's team to potentially be even better than the one that just went 15-0.
Say what you will about the differences in the sport over the years, but this is objectively the most success the program has seen - relative to the competitive field of the time - at any one point in history.
I think we're clearly witnessing the very best era of Georgia football. Going back-to-back in this 4-team format is unreal.
Any team needs a couple of breaks to fall their way to win even one NC, Kirby has Georgia in a position where a three-peat is a real possibility. The odds of winning a third in a row must be off the charts, but the current state of the program is good enough for that to actually be a possibility.
I think there is no questions this is the best 7-year period of Georgia football. But the competition is fierce, plus with portal and NIL, how long this will last remains to be seen.
I absolutely think that Kirby has elevated our Dawgs to a Golden era. Kirby and his staff have done an absolute Superb job on a Repetitive basis of recruiting and through the portal obtaining Elite level players. But to More Than compliment that he’s got coaches and staff into his program that have helped develop those players to a razor sharp edge. So going forward it is absolutely essential to continue recruiting at that level, but even Much More importantly, is to Retain and/or Replace coaches and staff at the very best levels of the game to continue that player development. I think we might well have seen watching Bama what can happen when you have Elite players, But you don’t have sufficient staff to both develop them and instill in them the desire to fully buy into what your program is trying to accomplish, and the How that your program is going about it. So UGA needs to pull out all stops possible to keep people like Coach Monken at UGA. Or at the very least have some people that are so indoctrinated into how he thinks they are almost clones of him. It didn’t hurt us quite as bad when we lost our DC to Oregon, as we still had Kirby, Muschamp, Schumann. But if we were to lose Monken do we have another coach already here that knows his system thoroughly and could think like he does under pressure ? Monken is just one ( most important though right now) of several that UGA needs to try their level best to hang on to. If we can hold on to them for another year or more, Kirby needs to ensure that people behind them are learning all they possibly can, which I’m confident Kirby Has been doing that all along. So I believe we will continue to see success at the highest levels for quite some years to come !! Go Dawgs !!
To this point, obliquely, I propose that we erect a statue to Greg McGarity, and place it on the corner opposite the statue of Vince (reserving one corner for Kirby). It was he that, recognizing that Kirby was "ripe" to come out, and that a delay might loose the chance to get him to Athens, and who had the cahones to fire one of the most loved and popular in Georgia History, Mark Richt. That alone may make him the greatest AD in Georgia history. As the late Furman Bisher said, Selah.
Smart has definitely elevated the Georgia football program in many ways - facilities, recruiting, development of players, and of course, 2 National Championships...so far. I don't think there is even a real debate concerning whether or not the Smart era has turned into the greatest time for Georgia football. The answer is an obvious YES. Especially when you look at how much more competitive the field is now. Add in the NIL, transfer portal, and the recruiting pressures there is really no comparison.
The great thing is Kirby is only 47 years old....a man with a ton of energy and stamina (very much needed). My biggest worry is probably that he is going to continue to go SO HARD that eventually it may catch up with him and his health. I just hope he knows how to relax and truly take time off completely to recharge. But is that even possible in today's age of college football?
It’s a little hard to compare these things sometimes. Dooley & Richt didn’t have the playoff opportunities that the top four teams now have. Coach Dooleys 66,71,82 & 83 teams certainly would have made the playoffs. Coach Richts 2002 team would have & the 07 team even with the 2 loses was probably the best team in the country.
On a side note Ray Goffs 92 team & Jim Donnans 97 teams would’ve probably have been in a four team playoff.
These are the most glorious, glory days of UGA football!
I have a 2018 G-Day tshirt that says “We Aren’t Going Anywhere!”
man, I didn’t realize how very true that is until the other night.
Finally, the admin, AD and HC are ALL on the same page!
It’s great to be a Georgia Bulldog!!
I saw a stat there are only 3 coaches with an undefeated record in a 15 game college football season…
Ed Orgeron
Dabo
Kirby Smart
That speaks volumes!
As a fanatical Dawg fan - I must be honest and agree that Alabama did miss their top 2 receivers in the 2022 national championship game. Nonetheless, injuries are part of the game and the bottom line is our players won that game, and poor officiating had no bearing on the final score.
That said - I was present at the 2018 national championship game and poor officiating ( We weren’t offsides on blocked punt and two receivers were in motion when Alabama scored the tying touchdown in regulation) cost us a legitimate chance to win that national championship game. ( it should be noted that the head Big Ten official later admitted the officiating crew blew those calls).
So what is my point - we should have 3 national championships in the past 6 years!!
Great article Bill! A lot of history included that I was unaware of so I am very appreciative of your research and interviews! Always a pleasure to read your work! GO DAWGS!
Great comments and good perspectives!!
Would have been a perfect article to read on a Sunday until I saw Dan Wolken’s name in the article; Dan Wolken is a political hack posing as a sports journalist and I could care less what his opinion is of our Dawgs in this era and back to back or whatever.
Dan Wolken spouted off about changing the CFB schedule and moving it from the Fall due to global warming just this past Summer:
https://www.outkick.com/dan-wolken-college-football-climate-change-threat/
he also produced numerous articles and tweets under his sports “journalist” moniker wanting to have the entire 2020 AND beginning of the 2021 seasons cancelled due to hyperventilating COVID fears not to mention criticizing Head Coaches of teams that didn’t wear their face diapers to his liking; If he could have had his way we would not have even seen our Dawgs play football in 2020 OR 2021, their Championship season.
Anyway, I agree we are definitely in a “Golden” era of college football with our Dawgs and as a Generation X’er, I like reading about other generation Dawg fans perspectives!
I could definitely do without the comments from the “woke” sports journalists from USA Today or any other rag corporate media conglomerate. They don’t care about us Dawg fans or the DAWGS team or the SEC and I am perfectly fine with it staying that way.
Thanks, Bill!
Awesome read and fantastic comparisons of the great eras in UGA. history!
And, yes, it IS a great time to be a Georgia Bulldog!
To paraphrase I. Yamamoto, the Commander of the Combined Japanese fleet during WWII:
“Coach Kirby has awoken a fearful giant and filled it with a terrible resolve!”
Go Dawgs! Four time National Champs!
50 years a Dawg fan .... there has never been anything like what is happening at UGA like the present. The past was filled with many years of promise disappointment and downright heartbreak or even disgust. Kirby, his staff and the mindset of the players has changed all that. I have heard many people say that next year's team will be far superior to this years and that the defense may very well surpass 2021. It is indeed a wonderful time time to be a Dawg fan. I plan to enjoy every snap, every run, every pass, every sack, every turnover, every sideline shot of UGA, every Kirby leap into the air, every touchdown and every win along the journey. The first Natty was incredible. The second was over the top awesome. And next year ... well, boys, IT'S TIME TO GO HUINTING AGAIN, because the Dawgs are going for 3 in 2023!! GO DAWGS.