Kirby Smart makes strong statement about Georgia Bulldogs and their "standard" in modern era of college football
For those who have been around Georgia Bulldogs football for very long at all you may have heard Kirby Smart or his players talk about "The Standard". In fact, throughout this 2025 NFL Draft season, Georgia players have talked about "The Standard" at Georgia being what sets it apart from any other program they were […]
For those who have been around Georgia Bulldogs football for very long at all you may have heard Kirby Smart or his players talk about "The Standard". In fact, throughout this 2025 NFL Draft season, Georgia players have talked about "The Standard" at Georgia being what sets it apart from any other program they were a part of or recruited them in any capacity.
However, many fans and critics of Georgia this past season expressed the fact that "The Standard" wasn't exactly met throughout much of the 2024 college football season for the Bulldogs. Kirby Smart was asked about this very topic in an interview this week with Josh Pate (of CBS Sports) and made a pretty strong statement about his program and staff.
Kirby Smart on "The Standard" and his 2024 Georgia Bulldogs
The Standard at Georgia is something that is expected of all their players. The program, Kirby Smart, his staff, and the players all expect greatness, stemming from hard work and top tier processes set in place to help them maintain that greatness.
College football saw the collective "standard" that Georgia set as as they won back to back national championships following the 2021 and 2022 seasons. And while 2024 certainly didn't feel like it met the standard of the best program in college football over the last five years, it was–according to Kirby Smart–the best coaching job he and his staff put together by far (as you can see in the video post below).
"Best coaching job we've done by far. 100%. We were not as good as some of the years previous. And we had twice the schedule [compared to] some of the years previous. So, to the naysayers, to the onlookers, to the people that don't know. I respect everybody's opinion. You can have an opinion. You can do whatever you want with it. I know football. And I know the level of schedule that we had to play. I know the roster we did it with. And I know the injuries we had. By far and away the best job that our staff and organization has done. Easily. To go through the gauntlet we went through. Number one, to get into SEC Championship was an accomplishment with that schedule.
As Josh Pate alluded to in his lead up to the question on Georgia's 2024 season, the Bulldogs didn't exactly have the season that many fans have come to expect. The team ranked outside the Top 40 in rushing success rate, yards per play, adjusted EPA per play, and many other key predictive offensive measures. And then on defense, where Georgia teams generally dominate, the Bulldogs ranked outside the Top 50 in adjusted EPA per play allowed, struggling against both the run and pass in various spurts against good teams.
However, as Kirby Smart noted, the team fought through several key injuries (Mykel Williams was perhaps never fully healthy coming off the edge on defense, and Carson Beck was sidelined halfway through the SEC Championship game and beyond), and the schedule was absolutely brutal. What Kirby Smart, his staff, and his players were able to accomplish, winning the SEC, making it to the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff in 2024 was nothing short of miraculous given all they fought through.
"They don't make the SEC schedule like they do the NCAA basketball pool where they [look at] the quality of wins you have. They don't do that. They just do it sheerly off of who are the top two teams [by win-loss record] in the conference. Well, we were able to do that. Then we were able to win that game. Which was, in and of itself, and accomplishment. And then we went and played a really good Notre Dame team and we didn't play our best game in that opportunity. Had some faulty special teams plays, and they beat us. All in all, I was very pleased by what we got out of our team. And it was below "the standard" statistically in a lot of areas. But a lot of that had to do with the schedule."
Kirby Smart acknowledged the fact that the team did fall short of "The Standard" the team has set in recent years, statistically speaking. But it's hard to disagree with him that Georgia's 2024 season was anything but extremely impressive nonetheless.
Smart continued later on in the same interview, discussing the fact that 2024 may be a good picture of what the future of the modern SEC is going to look like given all the tougher, deeper schedules. Especially in an era where talent can be more evenly distributed near the top with the Transfer Portal, NIL, and the future revenue sharing model thats coming this year (and beyond).
Now, Smart did not say that Georgia's standard is changing, because they're always going to be pursuing greatness with hard work and top notch processes. That's not going away. However, he did note that in today's college football, he's being asked to accelerate the process and their standard with some players who are being forced into action earlier and earlier. That makes things a bit more difficult than they have perhaps ever been for the best programs in the sport.
Given the vast numbers of players who departed via the Transfer Portal and the NFL Draft, Georgia is once again going to be relying on a ton of youth in 2025. The standard at Georgia isn't going to change. Kirby Smart made it clear that every last one of their young starters is going to be pushed and coached hard, just like always. But Georgia fans may need to get used to some peaks and valleys on the way to potential SEC Championships and College Football Playoff runs given the ever-changing nature of today's game.
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