I have been doing this for 30-plus years. If I had a nickel for every time any coach in any sport at any level told me the key to their success was “just being ourselves” and “doing what we do and doing it better than the other team,” I wouldn't have to work today.
So why on God's green new turf field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium did Kirby Smart and the Georgia defense abandon what has become a time-honored tradition among coaches?
The Bulldogs were up 10-0 on Alabama in the first quarter on Saturday in the SEC Championship game. They had gotten there by playing what had become their brand of fast-paced, hard-hitting, nasty defense to help set up an efficient, opportunistic offense.
It was a defense that led the nation in virtually every statistical category. It was so good that most of the odds-makers made Georgia a 6 1/2-point favorite over the defending national champions. Many experts expected the unit to dominate an Alabama offense that had struggled mightily the week before in a shocking-that-it-took that-long 24-22, four-overtime win over Auburn in The Iron Bowl.
Yet for some inexplicable reason, the Bulldogs, or at least the coaches, decided that success was just too much for them to handle.
The Georgia defense backed off after building their quick lead, or at least it appeared that way to most of the viewing audience, whether they were in the stadium or watching on TV. That allowed what was still a very potent and powerful Tide offense to get unleashed. For the next two quarters, Alabama channeled last season’s record-setting offense while Georgia fans, and most of the nation, watched in stunned disbelief. The Tide scored 24 points in the second quarter alone, more than the Bulldogs defense had allowed in ANY FULL GAME during the regular season, and 31 through the first drive of the third quarter.
The Bulldogs defense did revert back to it’s successful formula late in the third quarter and in the fourth, allowing just a field goal late in the game. Too little, too late as they say.
Georgia fans had come to expect that nothing could crack that vaunted unit. The prevailing thought was that the only thing that could stop Georgia's defense from dominating every opponent, would be themselves.
Which is exactly what happened. The obvious question is why? Why would they do that?
And that, of course, led to a quick and impromptu Twitter storm during and after the game where Georgia fans suddenly began considering that maybe Kirby Smart just wasn’t up to the task of bringing down the biggest elephant in college football. There is an argument to be made, for sure.
Smart offered his take.
“We changed the coverage up. We had a couple busts. We had a bust on that (67-yard TD pass to Jameson Williams) where we left a guy wide open,” he said in the postgame press conference. “It wasn't anything they did different, same route they ran on Auburn, but we played it a different way and didn't play it correctly.
“It was more than that play obviously. They hit us several times man to man. They hit us several times (in) zone. I think you've got to affect their quarterback.”
And then there was this.
“We didn't work on run much because we didn't feel like with the[ir] (running) backs, it was coming. It was going to be a pass game,” Smart opined. “Felt like we'd get a lot of empty, which we did. I really feel good about the things we worked on, but our ability to execute them -- we had two or three third downs where we have a bust and cut a guy loose, and we haven't done that all year.”
Smart and defensive coordinator Dan Lanning deserve all the credit for building what is still a nasty and feared defensive squad. But they also deserve all the criticism of what transpired on Saturday.
The defensive line, which many considered by far the best in college football and led by Jordan Davis, basically stood still during most of the Tide's explosion. Was the plan to try and contain Tide quarterback Bryce Young? They certainly didn't appear to even be trying to rush the quarterback or put pressure on him. The secondary playing zone coverages they had not practiced or played in games most or all of the season. Half-a-dozen times you saw guys turn around as if lost in where they were supposed to be.
In all my years, I've been told ad nauseam by coaches "don't do things you're not accustomed to or haven't done before."
Whatever the plan was, it was an epic fail. Young picked them apart for an SEC Championship record 421 yards, which may have sealed a Heisman Trophy for the sophomore.
The Georgia defense proved that “doing what (you) do and doing it better than the other team” may be the key to any team’s success. When they stuck to that model, they almost were untouchable. When they didn’t, they got torched like a tailgating bonfire.
I don’t think it’s time yet to make any rash decisions or judgments on Smart and whether he is capable of bringing Georgia fans what they most desperately want: a national title. I still believe Smart is the guy that can turn the Bulldogs into the next dynasty for the college football world to hate. He was a huge part of the current Alabama dynasty as defensive coordinator under Nick Saban for 10 seasons.
Smart understands how to build a consistent, long-standing, winning program and has modeled the Bulldogs after the Crimson Tide. He already owns five SEC East titles, one SEC Championship, and now two berths in the College Football Playoffs, including playing in one national title game, in six seasons. Not to shabby.
But I do think the microscope trained on Smart is now at a much higher setting by fans -- and maybe even those making the decisions at Butts-Mehre -- as the Bulldogs get ready for Michigan in the College Football Playoffs on New Year’s Eve in Miami.
I won’t go so far as to say it’s “Championship or Bust” for Smart. But as much of a Smart fan as I am, if the Bulldogs, who were considered nearly unbeatable just four days ago, can’t get past the Wolverines, some introspection may be in order.
In the last four meetings against Alabama -- all losses -- the Bulldogs have had the lead at some point in every one of them. Smart’s future in Athens may well depend on whether they can ever beat the Tide.
If Smart and his staff are to take the Bulldogs to the next level, they need to stick to the plan THEY devised at all times: a nasty, aggressive defense. Not the spaghetti-strainer disaster we saw for two quarters on Saturday.
We see what happens when any team deviates from what got them there.
