quote:
Georgia - Kirby Smart: Tenacious recruiter in the perfect place to get first crack at premium talent. Kirby is not a Saban clone and regularly loses games he's supposed to win. He makes boneheaded mistakes in-game and can't get the best out of his teams sometimes. But Kirby is his own man and a true leader for the young men who attend his alma mater. Don't think Kirby would have had as much success at other HC jobs - but UGA was a match made in heaven.

I just want to comment on the bolded bit.

After year 1, Kirby has lost a grand total of 11 games in 7 seasons.

-3 of those losses were to national championship teams (Bama 2017, LSU 2019, Bama 2020). Arguing UGA "should" have won those is a bit of a stretch.

-1 loss was to a team that finished #2 (Bama 2018). Again, unless you believe UGA should have been considered favorite for a national title, that doesn't qualify as a "supposed to win" game.

-2 losses were avenged by a later UGA win against the same team (Auburn 2017, Alabama 2021). I personally find it hard to ding a team for an avenged loss as it generally means the first matchup didn't end up mattering.

That leaves the following 5 losses in those 7 seasons.

2018 - LSU (#6)
2018 - Texas (#9)
2019 - SC (unranked, 4-8)
2020 - UF (#12)
2023 - Alabama (#5)

One top 5 team. Three top 10 teams. Four top 15 teams.

SC was a "should have won" game. Pretty easy. I'd say UF was as well. But the rest? Is a loss to a top 10 opponent ever a "should have won" result? If so , doesn't Saban have a ton of "should have won" games that fit the same criteria?

I'd argue Smart has lost 2, possibly 3 games in 7 seasons that he really should have won that wouldn't be considered at worst a toss-up type game. I think that's on par with Saban as a percentage after his first season. I think expecting perfection from either of them isn't fair, and neither has been perfect. But both have won most of their "should wins" and a high percentage of "toss up" type games in their careers.