Kirby Smart and Lane Kiffin were at each other’s throats all week. Kiffin led the charge by doing what he does best and using the media to try and get in Smart’s head, but Smart did his best to ignore him.
Smart did clap back one time this week, but for the most part he kept quiet and let his team do the talking. And that’s exactly what they did as Georgia was able to beat Ole Miss 43-35 Saturday night.
Saturday’s game was as emotional as it gets. Both teams played extremely well and had a chance to win, but at the end of the day only one team is able to emerge victorious. That team on this night was Georgia, but even though Kiffin and Ole Miss just suffered a heartbreaking loss he still made time after the game to share a special moment with Smart.
Kirby Smart and Lane Kiffin share a special moment after the game @RustyMansell_ pic.twitter.com/INjdeFdSWo
— Georgia Chambers (@itsgeorgiatv) October 18, 2025
Kirby Smart, Lane Kiffin caught embracing each other after Georgia’s win
Even though it looked like Kiffin and Smart were taking shots at each other this week, it was all in good fun. Smart and Kiffin are very good friends, dating all the way back to when they were on Nick Saban’s staff together at Alabama. And even though they are rivals in the SEC now, they have remained good friends and love to see each other succeed.
So even though both Kiffin and Smart are extremely competitive and wanted to do nothing more than beat each other, they put that competitiveness aside and shared a nice moment with each other after the game.
Georgia and Ole Miss have had a lot of good battles over the last three years with both teams finding success against the other. But it was Georgia who got the final laugh on Saturday and it is Smart who now has the bragging rights over his good buddy Kiffin.