A few seasons ago, Kirby Smart sat alone at the top of the college football coaching conversation. At Georgia, he had built a machine: a playoff regular, a national champion in 2021, then a program that followed with back-to-back titles in 2022. For a while, the Bulldogs looked like the sport’s new standard, and Smart looked like the man everyone else was chasing.
That picture has changed. Georgia has still been successful - two of the last three SEC championships, plus College Football Playoff appearances and first-round byes in each of the last two seasons - but the postseason results have shifted the tone around Smart. The Bulldogs have not won a playoff game since their 2022 national title run, and each year they’ve been knocked out by a lower seed.
That backdrop set up a blunt answer from ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith during an appearance on “First Take” with SEC Network analysts Paul Finebaum and Jordan Rodgers at SEC media days. Asked whether Smart’s standing had taken a hit, Finebaum said it had slightly, Rodgers disagreed, and Smith went further.
"It's not a crime to look at Kirby Smart and to say, you know what, it's been about four years since you won a national title," Smith said. "It is the SEC.
You are at the University of Georgia. You're still recognized as a top-two coach in all of college football.
You're just not recognized as No. 1."
Smith didn’t name his own No. 1, but the conversation naturally points toward Indiana’s Curt Cignetti. In just two seasons, Cignetti has turned a historically struggling program into a contender.
Indiana went 11-2 in Year 1, posting the first double-digit-win season in school history and earning a College Football Playoff berth. In Year 2, the Hoosiers went 16-0 and won their first national championship.
Smart’s place in Georgia history is already locked in. He ended a decade-long title drought and turned the Bulldogs into one of the sport’s premier programs.
But college football is judged by championships, and with recent playoff exits piling up, the debate around the sport’s top coach has opened back up. With Cignetti and Ohio State’s Ryan Day building their own championship cases, Smart no longer sits in the spot he once owned without question.
The only real answer now is getting Georgia back to the top.
In Other News...
Georgia Techs Passing Game Faces A Defining Fall Camp Battle
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Several freshmen are in the mix to make that push, including Darnell Collins, Jeffar Jean-Noel, Kentrell Davis and Jeremy Winston, and their early work will go a long way toward shaping the rotation. Georgia Tech also has other receivers competing for space in the pecking order, which only adds to the sense that this is more than a routine camp battle. It is the kind of position group where one strong stretch in practice can change the depth chart quickly, and the Jackets need somebody to seize that opportunity. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Techs Tight End Battle Could Change The Entire Offense
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Mermans and Chris Corbo were limited by injury in the spring, but both are back healthy now, which only adds to the sense that this group could be more than a supporting cast. Corbo brings a receiving element that could make him useful near the goal line, but he still has to find his place behind Harris and Roche Jr., and the bigger question is how often Georgia Tech can lean into multiple-tight-end looks to give the offense a different edge. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Tech Defender Just Put Colorado On Notice Before The Rematch
Georgia Techs 2026 opener already has a little edge to it, and Brayden Manley is helping add to it. The Yellow Jackets defensive end is heading into his second season with a clear target in mind for Colorados visit to Atlanta on Sept. 3, when the Buffaloes will kick off the year on ESPN in a matchup that already has them cast as the road underdog.
Manleys focus is squarely on Colorado quarterback Julian Lewis, and he has set a personal goal of getting to the passer early and often. With Georgia Tech also settling in around a new projected starter on offense, the Yellow Jackets will spend the offseason building toward a game that has a little more bite than a typical opener, and Manley has made it clear he expects to be part of the pressure package when the rematch arrives. [Read more 🡒]