Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart has elevated the football program since taking the job in 2016.
The Dawgs won the SEC Championship in 2017, have won the SEC East three times, have a 30-5 record over East programs, and the most impressive stat is the 15-0 road game record over their division teams.
That 15-0 record doesn’t count the Florida games because they are on in a neutral environment.
Georgia has dominated the East, and if they want to contend year in and year out, controlling the division is how to do it.
Smart is in his sixth season, and this record he has amassed is incredible and worthy of naming him king of the SEC East. While it may seem silly to give him this title, this record, and how he has evolved Georgia’s football program and recruiting, there is no other title that works.
Nick Saban taught Smart well while he was at Alabama, but it isn’t just him. Georgia’s head coach has done his due diligence to prepare himself to give himself a good shot at succeeding as a head coach.
Smart made some questionable choices early on at Georgia, but he improves each year as he takes what doesn’t work and adjusts it. Then you throw in recruiting and how he handles that. He is running a well-oiled machine or kingdom to go along with the king analogy.
Georgia went from being the good ole boys of the SEC to dominating the East, and Smart is a big reason for that. While Mark Richt got the Dawgs on the right path, Smart has taken what Richt did and elevated it.
The Dawgs are getting back to what they were when coach Vince Dooley was in town, and by that, I mean dominating and contending for titles each year. Granted, Smart inherited a great program, so that helped, but he didn’t just do well. He excelled with these guys.
To go 15-0 on the road in some challenging environments shows how Georgia evolved the last six seasons. The culture is to beat everyone and make them quit each week, and right now, the Dawgs are doing just that.
Smart is now the SEC East king as no other coach is even close to challenging him right now. Tennessee is on the rise, though, and Florida is doing whatever they’re doing. While his crown is safe for now — it’ll be interesting to see where he takes the program next. Not to mention watching this road-game record to see how it progresses with his career.
Enjoy this Georgia fans because stuff like this doesn’t often happen in college football, and Georgia better be ready to pay Smart and this staff whatever they want to keep them together. It’s a winning formula and one no one wants to see leave.