Georgia Football: How hiring Kirby Smart made UGA a champion

Hopefully the first of many:

Kirby’s 2017 success is now being officially recognized on a national level. He has been named the Associated Press SEC Coach of the Year. He’s also been a joy to watch on the sidelines. His love of the game is infectious and certainly entertaining.

This is a great accomplishment on its own for a second-year head coach in the toughest conference in the nation. It makes it even more impressive considering that Nick Saban is still in business as the head man at the University of Alabama. ‘Experts’ keep saying that the SEC is ‘down’ right now. Well, the conference just put 2 teams in the College Football Playoff and has 3 of the nations top 10 teams. Even if Florida, Tennessee and others are rebuilding, there is no doubt that it remains to premier conference in college football. Jimbo Fisher jumping ship to Texas A&M just makes the conference even better.

With Georgia in one semifinal game against Oklahoma and Alabama in the other against Clemson,  the possibility of an all-SEC national championship game is possible. Wouldn’t that be a matchup for the ages? While it would probably disgust a lot of Big 12 and ACC fans, it would be such a cool thing to see teacher vs. student for the national championship. Saban vs. Kirby could very well happen. It would also confirm the SEC’s dominance over the rest of college football.

Next: UGA has 6 players named to All-SEC teams

And Kirby could absolutely have a chance to beat his former boss with this Dawg team. Of course, the Rose Bowl and Oklahoma are first. Regardless of the outcome, it’s obvious that the move to make Kirby Smart the head coach of UGA was the right one.