Kirby Smart takes blame for Georgia's miserable first half at Alabama
Kirby Smart knows his Georgia Bulldogs simply didn’t perform well enough in the 1st half of their Week 5 matchup at Alabama.
The Bulldogs were dominated by the Crimson Tide in the 1st half, falling into a 30-7 deficit. Nothing was working, with the defense getting gashed by Jalen Milroe and Carson Beck throwing 2 interceptions.
After the game, Smart took the blame for his team’s poor half.
“It was one hell of a game … Obviously we weren’t prepared in the first half and that’s on me,” Smart said.
“It was one hell of a game. … obviously we weren’t prepared in the first half and that’s on me.” pic.twitter.com/MUtCHgkA86
— Seth Emerson (@SethWEmerson) September 29, 2024
Smart may not have had his team prepared for the 1st half, but the 2nd half was different. The Bulldogs mounted a ferocious comeback and outscored the Tide 27-11 in the second half. The Bulldogs even took the lead briefly near the end of the 4th quarter.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, a long TD by Ryan Williams with just over 2 minutes left gave the Tide a lead once again. This time, the Tide would not relinquish the lead, and the team escaped with a 41-34 lead.
This game could have easily gotten out of hand, but Smart’s squad kept fighting. It will be interesting to see how far the polls drop Georgia after the exciting battle.
The next test for the Bulldogs will be against Auburn in Week 6.
UGA Choked all the first half, and the the Tide choked almost all of the second half…..it was a choke fest.
Roll Tide!
+1 for High IQ.
9-1
the amount of pride that’s probably on full display in your step right now….
our dogs deserve better coach than smart now
the homers at ajc keep trying to make excuses
i watched wally butts make the same excuses 60 years ago
until smart understands he has to have a dual threat qb the dogs will not win the nc again
and the pass rush was not up to elite
i turned off the tv when it was 7 to 0 since it was obvious ga was not strong in the lines
beck is not tebo and brock bowers was the reason we won not stetson
this debore is either lucky or alabama has some angel making sure saban is not missed
Doc, your daughter in Augusta doing OK with the Storm?
You should know just from the punctuation and shallow, failed attempt at humor that this clown is not Doc.
In 20-20 hindsight, seeing Doc’s comment below, I suspect your comment just went in the wrong place.
Yes, wrong location.
Thanks for asking, JTF – all is well in Augusta, but for power outages and road blockages. Not sure of how it looks in other neighborhoods, she lives off Wrightsboro Road and that was the extent of it there. Carping about heat/humidity with no A/C, but she recognizes that’s the least of other people’s troubles in a CAT II storm.
Good to know Doc. I have two families staying with me. It was a terrible storm.
Power slowing is coming back on. The cleanup will take months.
Apparently, lots of looting and break-ins of empty houses going on in Augusta. Same for Atlanta?
“i turned off the tv when it was 7 to 0 since it was obvious ga was not strong in the lines” —yet, you still graced us with your savvy analysis?
you are my most favorite of favorites.
Yup, FIRE KIRBY SMART!!
Give me a break. Georgia has not only the best football coach in the nation right now, but no doubt the classiest. If the Dawgs “choked” in the first half, then they made the seemingly impossible happen in the second – due to c-o-a-c-h-i-n-g. Sure, “almost” only counts in hand grenades, but this is a game and what a helluva game it was. Congrats to Alabama for holding on and winning in the highest traditions of the SEC ….. can’t wait for the rematch!
Kirby could have easily thrown his player(s) under the bus and didn’t. That’s what leadership does, it takes responsibility regardless of where the breakdown is. I’m not always seeing that with CBK…think Kirby would mind callin’ Baton Rouge?
Coach Smart always take responsibility. As you stated, he is a great leader. Kiffin was discussing it the other day.
Hope you are well.
A gator, a tiger, a bulldog. What is three clowns for $200? Everyone watched 2 horribly coached teams struggle to see who could choke the most. Of course Georgia won.
Doing great over here man, thanks. Hope the same for you. Tough loss but what a game! I don’t think this L for UGA is gonna matter too much in the end.
Nobody choked in this football game. This game was a battle between two supremely talented rosters that each benefited from excellent coaching… just in different halves.
Alabama came in with a brilliant scheme and fired on all cylinders at home. Georgia made great adjustments in the second half.
Beck had a bad night. Yes, he did some great things in the second half, but the bottom line is that he can be streaky. The safety was just a great defensive play; very few quarterbacks get out of that situation. But on many other plays, he made very bad throws.
Georgia is so talented that most of the time it won’t matter. Against Alabama, Texas, Ohio State, it matters.
Beck has to be much better. That last throw was unacceptable for a 5th year player. But, the receivers have to learn to attack the catch instead of waiting on the ball. IMO.
Both teams choked. Everyone saw it. The coaching in this matchup will go down in history as the worst in the SEC by top 5 teams in primetime.
Will you please go away
VAVOL1, It’s idiots like choo-choo and gwhite that give Vol fans a bad rap on this site.
I hate to think what they’ll become if the Vols ever win something meaningful again. After 25 years, you’d think they’d have developed some humility. But, I guess one needs to have some self awareness before one can be humble.
Fans like you are why your team struggled 15 years in the wilderness. Grow up boy.
My team has struggled 15 years in the wilderness because our prior AD refused to spend money on football staff and facilities like Alabama and UGA did, which ran off both Spurrier and Meyer, while our current AD has no idea what a real HC is. In both cases, Gator fans had zero to do with the hiring of those ADs.
Try again moron.
BTW, despite our 15-year wondering in the wilderness, my team STILL owns your team, which has spent 25 years wondering in the same wilderness.
Your turn.
Your IQ is sooo low it’s offensive. I was talking to vavol1. Whomever your team is, it is not a topic of interest to VOLS.
And your IQ must be even lower, since the Vols have been wondering in the wilderness since 1998. That’s a heck of a lot more than 15 years.
I’ll clue you in. You can’t count to that number of years using all your fingers and toes.
Kind of surprised by this. One of my gripes is he traditionally hasn’t taken responsibility. It’s always the players fault. That’s what all the frantic yelling is: a performance to let people know ‘it’s them, not me!’ So, props there, I guess.
Kirby Smart as a coach:
Recruiting A+
In-game adjustments A
Preparation C
Leadership C
So, I guess all of Saban’s in game yelling and DeBoer’s last night was all saying it is them and not me, instead of being coaching to try to win.
Don’t be silly.
Emotion (and yelling) has always been part of ball.
But it’s not all equal, and you know this. Some guys get really out of control.
Some guys are whiny b*****s.
If you’re honest and watch Kirbs compared to other coaches you’ll see a very obvious level of performativeness … and a hefty dose of whiny b**** as well.
If you took the time to watch, you would realize that 90% of Saban’s sideline antics was performative. When Bama was winning, especially easily, he would lose his mind. It was to keep his players focused so they would not let down. Even then it would happen on occasion.Though if Bama was in a dog fight, he was very calm and trying to teach and coach.
mic0808’s IQ is too high for this site. He keeps pointing out small details that tell the true story above what media and our forum fans can enunciate. I’ve never noticed Saban turn his body to the cameras while crying at someone.
I always got a kick out of Bear Bryant – he could win a game 38-0 and in the post-game interview would always say, “We didn’t play well and I got my pants out-coached all day!”.
Me too! I remember when he said, “People think I’m the greatest dam coach in the world, but Neyland taught me everything I know.”
I don’t know if Bama came in with an offensive game plan that wasn’t on film yet, or what, but UGA’s defensive game plan was a head-scratcher to put it nicely. Dudes running wide open on every play. The entire team was obviously not mentally prepared for the moment, but proud of the way they fought back.
UGA is still UGA. I knew the game wasn’t over at the half, because I knew UGA would make a run. I sure wish they had not made quite as good a run. I was emotionally exhausted after that game.
You wouldn’t have to worry if either of you had decent coaching.
I dunno. Maybe Hugh Freeze should pay attention to how Kirby Smart is handling this.
No excuses on this one. Milroe and that kid were unstoppable; the Dawg offense couldn’t get out of it’s way; Bama’s defense was better than expected; and the Dawgs defense wilted.
This trend of not starting on offense until late 2nd Qtr or at the half was evident last year (AU, Mizzou, SC) and caught up to them against ” 23 Bama” and almost bit em in KY two weeks ago.