This next season will be a critical point for Georgia head coach Kirby Smart’s legacy
A single score has come to represent so much for the Atlanta Falcons and their futile attempts to stay relevant.
28-3. That score, of course, was their lead in Super Bowl 51 before the New England Patriots began their epic comeback.
There’s another simple reference that could have a similar haunting meaning.
Second-and-26.
The Georgia Bulldogs were just one defensive stop away from beating Alabama and winning the national championship. Then came Tua Tagovailoa to DeVonta Smith. In the span of about 5.7 seconds, the Crimson Tide won their fifth national championship under Nick Saban. Bulldog fans were left to wonder if this would be as close as they would ever get to winning just one.
In the two years since second-and-26, the Bulldogs have regressed. Mind you, they’ve swept Florida and Auburn and remained in the College Football Playoff top six every week, including five weeks in the top four. Many programs and their fan bases would happily change places with the Bulldogs.
But Georgia fired Mark Richt and hired Kirby Smart four years ago with one expectation in mind: Win a national championship. Soon.
On top of getting blown out by LSU in the SEC Championship Game, the Bulldogs lost offensive line coach and recruiting whiz Sam Pittman to Arkansas. And they just saw South Carolina snatch up Mike Bobo, the former Bulldog and long-time offensive coordinator, to run its offense. Meanwhile, running back D’Andre Swift and tackle Andrew Thomas — their two best offensive players — have almost certainly played their last games for Georgia.
Now there’s growing speculation that quarterback Jake Fromm may leave early for the NFL.
We’re about to find out just how good of a head coach Kirby Smart is. We know he can recruit. We know his teams play hard and physical. We know that Georgia isn’t about to become Nebraska.
But can Smart steady the ship through the storm and get it back on course? Florida is on the rise and Tennessee had a strong second half of the season. Auburn just hired Chad Morris to run the offense. Alabama rotates on to the 2020 schedule.
It’s not as if Smart’s job is in jeopardy. He signed a seven-year, $49 million contract extension two months after that national championship game. But this is a critical point of his tenure.
He got the first move right by hiring former Ole Miss head coach Matt Luke to replace Pittman. And despite much angst among many Bulldog fans over Bobo going to a division rival, there has been no indication that Smart has lost faith in offensive coordinator James Coley.
With Swift presumably leaving, they’re going to have to adapt the offense to the returning personnel. They have commitments from two of the top 35 wide receivers. It’s almost a certainty that they are monitoring the transfer portal for at least one upper classman to add to the mix.
There’s no question that the Bulldogs will be strong again in 2020. The schedule is challenging, as it always is in the SEC, but not overbearing. Their toughest non-conference opponent is the season opener against Virginia in Atlanta. They get Auburn and Tennessee at home.
Despite all the growing worries of the past week, it’s not hard to envision another 11-1 regular season and a return to the SEC Championship Game. Chances are their receiver corps won’t be depleted by injuries and disciplinary issues. They won’t have to face Joe Burrow and Justin Jefferson and probably not Clyde Edwards-Helaire.
They should be good enough to be right back in the CFP mix, maybe even good enough to be one of the final four. That is, if Fromm stays for his senior season. If not, well, there’s always 2021.