Georgia Bulldogs HC Kirby Smart shared confusing message for the naysayers after win over Tennessee Vols
The Georgia Bulldogs pulled off a wild 44-41 late-game comeback and overtime victory over the Tennessee Vols on Saturday, giving Kirby Smart and his team a 3-0 start to the 2025 college football season.Most coaches would just give their team and the opponent their flowers (which Smart did), talk up the difference makers, and call […]
The Georgia Bulldogs pulled off a wild 44-41 late-game comeback and overtime victory over the Tennessee Vols on Saturday, giving Kirby Smart and his team a 3-0 start to the 2025 college football season.
Most coaches would just give their team and the opponent their flowers (which Smart did), talk up the difference makers, and call it a night. Not Kirby Smart. He has a way of always emphasizing the “naysayers”, creating an “us against the world” mentality for Georgia, even when there really aren’t that many doubters, and he did it again after the win against Tennessee. However, this time it was a bit different.
Kirby Smart thinks naysayers are “whistling by the graveyard” when it comes to Georgia Bulldogs
Immediately following the game, coach Smart made his typical comments about the naysayers–and many times there really aren’t any–but this year there seriously have been some real doubters when it comes to Georgia. There were questions on Gunner Stockton’s deep passing. Questions on the pass rushing depth. Questions on the running game and the offensive line. Yet, should those questions (from many in the media and opposing fans around the country) have been there at all?
It doesn’t sound like Kirby thinks so, and he made that clear in the most confusing way possible with his “whistling by the graveyard” analogy after the game (when asked about the naysayers and what the victory means for Georgia):
“I think we know who we are. I don’t mean this directly to Tennessee, but I told our players, ‘There’s a lot of whistling by the graveyard.’ A lot of people don’t know what that saying means, but there’s a lot of whistling by the graveyard. That isn’t who we are. I’m not saying that’s who Tennessee is. They’re physical. They’re tough. But there’s a lot of outside [people] whistling by the graveyard. A little bit of acting like one thing, but we feel like our team has a certain identity. We’re not going to go down without a fight.”
First off, almost no one uses the “whistling by the graveyard” saying anymore. However, in this instance, it was almost perfect. Those publicly doubting Georgia in many cases are likely hopeful that this season’s Bulldogs are in fact different than the ones in years past. Those same doubters likely also recognize–especially now–that they should be quite fearful of Georgia’s potential to completely dominate all of college football (and potentially their favorite team) again this season.
Yet, in the analogy, those fearful doubters are “whistling by the graveyard”, acting like they aren’t scared of the spooky monster that is Georgia. If you still don’t get it, ask a boomer near you. They’ll help you out.
In short, Kirby knows his team is good. He wasn’t trying to take a jab at Josh Heupel or the Tennessee Vols. In fact he acknowledged how well they played. His comments were about the overall view and sentiment that he hears about his team from everyone around the sport–and he knows they’re all wrong. He tried to play off his comments immediately after his confusing boomer analogy, saying that his team needs to get a whole lot better. Truth is, he recognizes what he has.
This is a confident Kirby Smart. If you don’t think so, just check out his hilarious on-field antics after the game. As he was walking off the field, Kirby was wiggling his tongue at photographers and potentially Vols fans amid his confident strut (as you can see below).
Georgia might still need to patch up their defense a bit. The deep pass game needs to find success in more than one game. The run game needs to keep up their newfound consistency. But this 3-0 Georgia Bulldogs team should invoke fear in every team unlucky enough to have to play them this year–and Kirby Smart knows it.
We’ll be back with more Georgia Bulldogs coverage here at A to Z Sports soon! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!
