re: Nick Saban (2008-2014) vs Kirby Smart (2017-2023)

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Kirby did it in the East and playing Georgia Tech.

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quote:

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Kirby did it in the East and playing Georgia Tech.

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First, the GT thing.

Kirby (unlike Saban) doesn't play just one P5 team most seasons. In addition to GT every year he faced UNC, Clemson, Oregon and Notre Dame twice. UGA's OOC schedule is the best in the SEC bar none BECAUSE they play more than one P5 OOC team most years.

Bama has only played one a season since Kirby came to UGA, and I don't remember any years they had more than one scheduled while Richt was at UGA either. And some of those years they played teams like Louisville or Duke as their ONE P5 OOC opponent. It's not like they always scheduled Texas or USC every season.

As for playing in the east... last year the east was better than the west. The #2 east team beat the top 2 from the west. This year UGA's regular season conference schedule contained the same number of ranked conference opponents as Bama... 3. And the one they didn't have in common, UGA's opponent is ranked higher.

Kirby's success is coming when the east is superior to the west, so that part of your post doesn't hold water either.