Kirby Smart on Texas joining the SEC

Hear Georgia head football coach Kirby Smart's remarks on Texas joining the SEC from Day 2 of the SEC Media Days.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
We're not ready to say goodbye yet. On day number two year of SEC
media days here inside the OMNI,we heard from Rent Venables. Earlier,
we had a live visit visit herewith the Commissioner, Greg Sankey. We
visited with Fozzie Whittaker, also withBobby Burton. So it's been a busy
day. But let's hear from KirbySmart. After all, he is the
head coach of the team picked towin the Southeastern Conference. Kirby is quick

(00:24):
to talk about the fact that theydon't exactly have the most appealing road schedule
in the world. So while folksare looking at him and saying, hey,
look, you know, this isjust how it is. You know,
Georgia is picked to maybe even winthe national championship in a lot of

(00:46):
publications, including say Athlons when I'velooked at that and Lindy's and some of
the others as well. He's quickto point out their road schedule playing Clemson
in Atlanta, which not exactly roganthe don't have the preponderance of the fans
there, but also at Kentucky,at Alabama, obviously, coming to Austin

(01:07):
at Ole Miss. So though thatwas one of the things on his mind
was the tough road sketcher they're goingto have to navigate. Yeah, initially
I was wondering how I got thatdraw, you know, but we're not
one to complain. We're one tobe excited. I think when you step
into the shoes of a University ofGeorgia football player, you accept that that
challenge is going to be there.I mean, we kind of embraced that

(01:29):
and we love it. I mean, in what you didn't get to mention
is that we open with Clemson two, who's one of the top teams in
the top programs in the country.So like, we're really excited about that.
I think that motivates our off seasonso that we have the right kind
of approach to the off season.And you know, our guys embrace that.
I mean, as coaches, youwant to play the best, and

(01:51):
people forget that. When you spenttime in the NFL, every week was
like that. So when Texas andOklahoma came into the conference, every schedule
was going to get harder. We'regoing to get easier. It's going to
get harder, and we embrace that. We look forward to it and excited
for the challenge to go to somereally tough places. Okay, that includes
Austin and playing Texas. He's heardhim talk about Texas and Oklahoma entering the

(02:12):
league. So how does Kirby Smartfeel about playing Texas? And might they
be as difficult opponent as they'll facethe season? Every team we play is
the best that week. Please understandthat, and the SEC humility is a
week away. I have a tonof respect for Sark and the job he
does. We've got to watch themplay last year against several common opponents.

(02:32):
We got to watch them play inthe playoffs. They have a tremendous recruiting
base. They do a tremendous jobin recruiting that includes nil and everything included
in that. So they're a big, physical team that are built like an
SEC football team. So we're lookingforward to an opportunity to come play them
and what a tremendous matchup it'll be. That's on October nineteenth in Austin.

(02:53):
Here's another topic that hasn't gained alot of legs. It may in time
after we get our first look ata twelve team playoff, and that's the
specter of conference championship games. Anddoes it make sense to continue with conference

(03:14):
championship games if you're going to havea twelve team playoff or maybe down the
road to sixteen team playoff or whatever. So Kirby Smart was asked, should
the SEC abolish the conference championship game, since, after all, we are
living in an age right now anywayhave a twelve team college football playoff.
I think it's a mistake to assumethat all players lead with that or that's

(03:38):
the primary. That's a long question, and I can spend a lot of
time on you know, and Ilearned a lot from the defensive guy in
the back of the room back therethat you're always adapting. You have to
adjust to them, but you haveto dictate to them as well. If
you sit back nowadays and let offensesdictate to you, they can do enough
things to drive down the field andbe explosive and make big plays and score

(04:00):
quickly that he can become frustrating.You have to have ways to create negative
plays. I think every defensive coachwould say that, but I do think
looking forward and backwards is really important. You know, we have a relatively
young defensive coordinator in Glenn Schuman,who spends more time on zooms he loves
talking football. He spends time withNFL coaches, high school coaches. Some
of the best ideas we've ever gottendefensively came from great high school minds in

(04:25):
the state that we were coaching inbecause they came up with really innovative ideas
because they defend these offenses sometimes beforewe do. And I've always been enamored
with that in game adjustment of whatwe can give a kid or give a
defense to help them against something they'redoing. You're always reacting, but you
do want to dictate at times too, by the way you pressure in the

(04:46):
things you do. Okay, allright, So there was that, And
also the other thing that is thatconference CHAMPI ship game and the twelve teen
playoffs, and what a difference thatmight make. You know, I'm not
for doing that. I still findvalue in winning an SEC championship. The

(05:08):
unique thing about the career that I'vehad in coaching, I've almost won as
many SEC championships as national championships,and I've won two nation champions when I
didn't win SEC championships as a program. I mean that's unique. I mean
it doesn't it's not supposed to happenthat way. So do I worry about
attrition in terms of having more games. I worry about attrition having four teams.

(05:31):
Okay, every coach worries about attrition. Right, you have to do
a good job of maintaining your roster, staying healthy, practicing the right way,
being smart. And I think beinga watch dog is part of my
job as I'm not a coordinator anymore. I want to watch the drills we
do. I want to see howwe practice. I want to make sure
we can maintain health. It's hardto do in the SEC, but that's

(05:54):
why you get an opportunity to recruitto eighty five scholarships so that you have
depth. Can you get your youngerplayer is ready faster than your opponent is
a huge advantage. But no,I don't want to see the conference championship
go away because I think it's oneof the greatest venues in all of college
sports, in all of sports.I mean that the games that we've played

(06:14):
in Atlanta have been some of thebest, most memorable games that I've ever
been a part of. And totake that away, I think that there's
going to be teams that look backon that SEC championship and it's very meaningful,
and I don't want to take awayfrom that meaning. It's also one
of the most lucrative revenue producers forthe SEC, both in terms of the
television money and the gate receipts.They're in Atlanta, and like we were

(06:38):
talking about with the Commissioner Greg Sank, if Texas has a really and I
do mean really good season, theycould wind up playing three games in Atlanta
SEC Championship game Peach Bowl in thequarter finals, and if you get all
the way to the national finals that'swhere the National championshipips, you could wind
up playing as many as three games. Be finished the regular season, college

(07:01):
station qualify for the SEC Championship,play that in Atlanta, then you're in
the playoff, whether you get abuyer, whether you get home. You
win that game, then you goto the quarterfinal that's the Peach Ball in
Atlanta. Win that, come back, have a semifinal against perhaps Ohio State
and the Cotton Bowl. Win that, and then you're back in the land
for the national Championship. There's achance a college team plays sixteen or seventeen

(07:27):
games next season. Them not achance that there will be teams playing sixteen
seventeen games. That's an NFL schedule. Now in college football, Hey,
you play sixteen in high school.You can play sixteen, for sure,
you can do that. Hey weforget that. Yeah, one more thing
from Kirby Smart. Georgia plays Alabamaon September twenty eighth in Tuscaloosa. It

(07:48):
is rare when those two teams meetin the regular season, and so they
did play in twenty twenty. Butother than the postseason, the conference championship
or in the National Championship, theyjust don't play that often in the regular
season. And of course we've seenNick Saban all around here. But Nick
Saban isn't the coach anymore. He'sretired. Kaitlin de Boor is the coach.

(08:11):
So Kirby Smarts asked, will theGeorgia versus Bama game be a lot
different without Nick Saban? I don'texpect them to change. Has two great
universities. I mean, you're talkingabout two teams that have been at the
forefront of college football, and it'sprobably going to be that way for a
long time. Both great universities,both committed. The commitment to excellence at

(08:33):
both places is really high. Thestandard that coach created there at Alabama and
the standard we've created. Those twoare going to be matching up for a
long time and I think it's what'sgreat about college athletics. Yeah, all
right, so there it is.That's from Kirby Smart, the head coach
of the Georgia Bulldogs. We'll beback to wrap up Day number two from
SEC Football Media Days here in Dallason sports Radio AM thirteen under the zone

(08:54):
of the iHeartRadio app.