Smart has Georgia in the fast lane, hammer dropped down and ahead of most everyone in the sport. A former UGA staffer described the overhaul perfectly: “ Kirby took it from a Mustang and turned it into a Ferrari.” Georgia had never spent, built and invested in a staff like a high-end SEC school until Smart came to town and $175 million in football upgrades soon followed. Smart’s blueprint - especially in recruiting - comes straight from Tuscaloosa. In a way, Saban has helped enable this UGA run. The variable would be when that potential transition would take place. But Smart is 45 and Saban is 70, so it’s safe to say that Georgia is the leader in the clubhouse to be the next SEC school to follow Alabama’s run of dominance. Predicting any kind of hostile takeover or axis shift is dangerous as there’s infinite gigabytes of cloud space dedicated to Alabama dynasty obituaries. Overall, Georgia has won just three SEC titles since the undefeated 1982 regular season. Georgia has won one in that time, Smart’s lone title in 2017. Alabama has won six of the past 10 SEC titles. But there’s a hope amid the Georgia fan base that this game could serve as a pivot point for SEC dominance. Smart has never beaten Alabama coach Nick Saban, his mentor and former boss, in three attempts. Even if you have no personal connections to Georgia, you can draw on them.” It’s hard to say exactly what it is, but there's just an entire inflated sense of pride in your school, in your state. “Sports in general, but I think especially football, are a microcosm of life and when your team can win something, I guess it gives you hope. “It's hard to quantify how much it means to people and why it means so much to people,” he said. You don't really know why you feel it, but you just do.”īennett went on to articulate the sociology of fandom at a Ph.D.
“You don’t really know, just a feeling inside. Bennett recalls crying after the SEC title game in 2012. He remembers his dad listening to games on the radio in the stadium, clinging to the action described by Larry Munson as it unfolded in front of them. (Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)īennett is a senior quarterback who grew up in Blackshear, Georgia, going to games with his father. Quarterback Stetson Bennett and head coach Kirby Smart carry the hopes of Dawgs fans entering this postseason. Georgia has the most talented roster in the sport, and could see a record 17 players picked in the NFL draft next year. That dominance comes in a year of relative offensive impotence in the sport, as there’s no sure-fire Top 15 quarterback and an increasing chance that a defensive player - including Georgia’s Jordan Davis - could win the Heisman Trophy. That’s the most dominant defense the sport has seen since Oklahoma in 1986, when the sport was a shadow of the spread and pass-based offenses that dominate today. Georgia’s run has been hallmarked by a historically good defense under coordinator Dan Lanning, as the Bulldogs are allowing just 6.9 points per game. “I mean, they're starving for that success.” “They're hungry,” Smart told Yahoo Sports this week. The inevitability of Georgia’s playoff bid has only amplified the lusty anguish of the fan base. Even with a loss in that game, the Bulldogs would enter the College Football Playoff as the betting favorite. Georgia enters the SEC title game against Alabama on Saturday as a near-touchdown favorite. And what’s grown as Georgia has pushed toward the school’s first national title since 1980 is the palpable longing of a school, town and state that has been starved for success at the highest level. Smart, 45, has Georgia on the brink of the type of delirium that has been missing in this football-crazed state for four decades. “I'm embarrassed to say it,” Smart said, “but I don't remember really anything because I was living in Alabama.”
0 kommentar(er)
