Georgia’s College Football Playoff championship hopes start at the top with coach Kirby Smart, according to SEC Network analyst Chris Doering.
“Let’s talk about the resume of Kirby Smart,” Doering said after he was asked why he is picking the Bulldogs to win the CFP championship. “Unfortunately he’s going to be overlooked for coach of the year just about every single season because of the expectation and the idea that his recruiting and talent assembly are so much better than everywhere else.
“More people need to talk about the coaching job that he has done this season.”
Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea was voted the SEC Coach of the Year by the league’s coaches for a second consecutive season.
Texas was the preseason pick to win the SEC at the league’s annual summer media event, with Georgia and Alabama picked to finish second and third.
Doering, who won SEC championships while playing for Florida in 1993, 1994 and 1995, said the Bulldogs’ evaluation on offense and defense has been impressive.
“I look at how they’ve changed this year with the ability to run the ball more with the quarterback,” Doering said. “(Defensively) they weren’t overwhelming teams with sacks and pressures, they’ve had to do things differently, and (defensive coordinator) Glenn Schumann about a month ago started using linebacker pressures and secondary pressure to create disruptions.”
To Doering’s point, quarterback Gunner Stockton has rushed for more yards this season (442 on 116 carries) than former UGA quarterback Stetson Bennett, who was a scrambler, did in either of his national championship seasons (259 on 56 carries in 2021; 205 on 57 carries in 2022).
Georgia, after having eight sacks through the first eight games, has piled up 12 more in the past five outings.
“This coaching staff has done a really good job of developing young talent and putting them into position to be successful, and changing what they’ve done,” Doering said. “They feel more comfortable playing man coverage now than they did early in the season because of the development of their younger defensive backs.
“This is not a team that’s been able to protect their secondary with the pass rush like they have in past years, but yet they’ve found a way to go 11-1 and then win the SEC championship and put themselves in position to get a bye in the playoff.”
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Doering said it starts with Smart, who became only the fourth coach in league history to win back-to-back SEC championship games with the 28-7 win over Alabama on Dec. 6, and it extends to the coaching staff.
“I just look at the way this team has come along this year,” Doering said, “and that includes the jobs Glenn Schumann and (offensive coordinator) Mike Bobo have done.”
Doering predicted that Georgia’s path to the title will start with Ole Miss, which plays host to Tulane in a first-round CFP game Saturday.
“I expect Ole Miss to win that game and set up a rematch in New Orleans, and what an awesome environment, the SEC champion going to New Orleans to play in the Sugar Bowl, the way it’s always been,” Doering said, “and Ole Miss being there, a team that travels really well, particularly to New Orleans.
“But I pick Georgia to win the national championship, so I expect them to beat Ole Miss and continue on and ultimately hold up the trophy at the end of the year,” he said. “Probably (face) Ohio State in the semifinals is the way it sets up, I actually have (the Buckeyes) beating Oklahoma.”
SEC coaches fewest games to 100 wins
Kirby Smart: 117 games
Nick Saban: 118 games
Steve Spurrier: 120 games
Phillip Fulmer: 123 games
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