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Georgia âNo Starsâ theme back in order: SEC coaches slight Kirby Smart, team
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Georgia âNo Starsâ theme back in order: SEC coaches slight Kirby Smart, team
Donât be surprised if the âNo Starsâ mantra makes a return and sparks the teams in the postseason, just as it did in 2021 when the USA Today failed to list any Georgia players on its preseason All-SEC team prior to UGAâs national championship run and record NFL draft class.
Comments
Love it. Go Dawgs!
Kirby is certainly not one to care about awards. The results are on the field. His peers and players know what the team has done and how they are expected to perform. Hopefully this ' No Stars' slight will keep the team focused and hungry for continued success.
"Is winning 10 games against teams outside the Top 25 (UGA beat four current Top 25 teams) with a Heisman Trophy finalist and double-digit graduate transfers a better coaching job than winning the SEC with a first-year starting quarterback after replacing 17 players who went to the NFL and another seven from the two-deep/playing rotation?"
Honestly, hard to argue whether he deserves it or not. As I think Lea has done a helluva job at Vandy, especially when you consider that Vandy has never won 10 games in a year before. I would think the argument should be that Kirby has done all of this with 50 plus % of his roster being freshmen & sophomores. This is his best coaching job ever imo.
Pretty sure when you weigh everything, he should be a top contender nationally and definitely win the national coach of the year if he runs the table.
Kirby Smart is the clearcut best coach in all of college football. The fact that he rarely wins coach of the year in the SEC speaks volumes. What more needs to be said
Can they take the award back from the Vandy coach next year when they go 4-7? Who cares about media awards. UGA just beat Florida, Tenn, Auburn, GT, and Alabama in the same year. With a lot of Freshmen and sophomores. Kirby is the best, and everyone knows it.
I love all these snubs, keeps Kirby and the gang motivated! By all means more bulletin board material please! Go dawgs…
The UGA 'no stars' might just win the natty because they play as a TEAM. GO DAWGS!
Clark Lea has done a phenomenal job at Vandy and is probably very deserving of this honor. No doubt Pavia was a generational player for Vandy and next year will tell a lot about their program. Obviously, Curtis is probably going to be thrown in the fire. Will be interesting to see if he becomes a hero or a zero. As for Kirby, he’ll likely win very few SEC Coach of the Year honors as he has set the bar so high it’s what all SEC coaches have come to expect of him. As MontanaDawg said below, winning and getting better is all he cares about. Kirby will certainly be a Hall of Famer when this great ride we’re on is over. As Dawg fans, we are very fortunate to be witnessing this era of Georgia football! Go Dawgs!
After all of upper classmen leave and Lea starts over with a JC, it will be back to the old Vandy.
And yes, you're right, with players coming back next year, just imagine how good this team will be!
And the playoff experience doesn't hurt either.
Go Dawgs!
"Is winning 10 games against teams outside the Top 25 (UGA beat four current Top 25 teams) with a Heisman Trophy finalist and double-digit graduate transfers a better coaching job than winning the SEC with a first-year starting quarterback after replacing 17 players who went to the NFL and another seven from the two-deep/playing rotation?"
If you are Vandy, yes. How many 10 win seasons has Vandy had in program history again?
"Do the SEC coaches, who often trumpet the talent, depth and parity of the league, truly believe Smart is not deserving after becoming just the fourth coach in the 35-year history of the game to win back-to-back league titles while reaching 100 wins faster (117 games) than any SEC coach in history?"
It is not a lifetime achievement award. And deserving? Absolutely. More deserving than Vandy, who went 10-2 and in the process beat LSU, Missouri, Auburn then hammered Tennessee so badly that they fired their defensive coordinator? How many times in their history has Vanderbilt beaten 3 of the big 6 teams - LSU, Tennessee, Auburn - in the same year? Usually good seasons for Vandy involve their going 4-4 or 3-5 in SEC play by beating up even worse Kentucky and Ole Miss (their annual rival) teams and catching a Mississippi State or someone else having a down year. Instead they beat 2 name programs with winning records, kept the third from having a winning record, plus Tennessee and Missouri would have both finished 9-3 with Texas (who barely got by Vandy 34-31 at home) had they beaten Vandy.
"but look closer and you’ll see a team loaded up with 15 graduate students starting on their offensive, defensive and special teams units — the majority of them transfers"
The Notre Dame team that bounced UGA from the playoff last year also had lots of kids from the portal, including starting QB Riley Leonard that they grabbed from Duke. Recruiting is part of coaching and the transfer portal is part of recruiting. If others are using the portal more effectively than Smart, then that is a plus for the other coaches and a minus for Smart.
"Ellis Robinson IV, the only SEC cornerback to record four interception and a candidate for FWAA Defensive Freshman of the Year, was also overlooked on the All-SEC first team."
Now there's a problem
"Zachariah Branch, a transfer from USC who led the SEC with 73 receptions ... was not selected by the coaches as a first-team pick."
Because he was 13th in receiving yards, 53rd in yards per reception, tied for 13th in TDs and 16th in yards per game. You are not going to be an All-SEC receiver with 1. a single 100 yard game (against 4-8 Florida) and 2. absolutely no catches downfield and very few catches 15 yards past the line of scrimmage (not counting the ones where he caught a short pass and ran 15+ yards). Branch had essentially the same role in Georgia's passing game as did tailback Kenny McIntosh in 2022. Except McIntosh had more yards per reception (11.2 to 10.2).
"— many of them pivotal in Georgia’s run for the championship —"
While important, you still need to exhibit dominance as an individual player.
By all means more bulletin board material please!
Agree 1000%
@MikeGriffith is sure doing his part! Great article, good sir!
Go Dawgs! Hate on E'rrbody!
All this does is motivate the team. But remember this, Kirby preaches TEAM first of over individual accolades. GO DAWGS!
When everyone considers you to be the best coach in the sport, nothing you accomplish is worthy of the smaller recognitions.