Georgia and Texas have become something of a new-age rivalry since the Longhorns joined the SEC, with the two teams facing off twice last season in Texas’ maiden SEC voyage.
The Bulldogs of course won both of those games, 30-15 in the regular season and 22-19 in overtime of the SEC Championship game. And though there’s been some bad blood between the fanbases and at least one infamous water bottle throwing incident, the two teams’ head coaches seem to get along quite well.
At his Monday press conference, Kirby Smart had nothing but praise for Steve Sarkisian.
“A lot of respect for Sark. He’s become a good friend of mine,” Smart said via 247sports.com. “He does a tremendous job. He’s at one of the premier programs in the country.”
“I enjoy his friendship and look forward to another great matchup on Saturday night,” Smart continued.
Sarkisian echoed much of the same when asked about Smart at his Monday presser, calling him the “best in our industry for the last decade” at recruiting.
Kirby Smart and Steve Sarkisian are good friends off the field
Sarkisian also revealed that he and Smart are in a few group chats together, and that Smart texted him before Georgia’s game against Mississippi State last weekend, seemingly to share their mutual displeasure about the inconvenient travel when playing in Starkville.
Remember, coaching is a fraternity.
“Yeah, he did text me Saturday morning,” Sarkisian said. “He was on that ride from Tupelo [Miss.] down to Starkville, which I had just done, obviously, a couple of weeks ago. That's one unique thing about the SEC– you always want to try to stay close to stadiums, but it's hard to do that in our conference the way some of these towns are set up.”
“He checked in with what I was doing. I said, 'Well, I just got to work out, about to have breakfast and watch you play, bud. So good luck.'”
The Texas head coach expanded on his relationship with Smart, saying the two have grown closer since the Longhorns joined the SEC, understanding the influence their respective programs have on college football.
“We have more things to talk about,” he said. “I think one thing about him being the head coach at Georgia, and myself being the head coach at Texas, I think that we have an opportunity to be influential on trying to do what's best for our game, not only in our conference, but in the state of college football. And I think us being aligned on as many issues as we can be aligned on, I think is good for the sport. And so we try to do that.”
Sarkisian admitted they don’t always see eye-to-eye, with him being an offensive-minded coach and Smart making his name on defense. But he made clear the mutual respect both coaches have as they prepare for a colossal matchup on Saturday.