Kirby Smart and the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs saw their 33-game home winning streak snapped in a 24-21 defeat to No. 17 Alabama on Saturday night.
Fans were quick to voice frustration, many zeroing in on Kirby Smart’s late-game decision to go for it on 4th-and-1 in the red zone rather than kicking a field goal.
The Bulldogs entered the contest 3-0 with momentum after wins over Marshall, Austin Peay, and a ranked Tennessee, but Alabama once again proved to be their stumbling block.
Gunnar Stockton threw for just 130 yards with one touchdown, while Chauncey Bowens was the offensive bright spot with 119 yards and a score.
Ty Simpson, on the other hand, carved up Georgia’s defense with 276 yards and three total touchdowns, sealing the Tide’s statement road win.
As emotions carried into the postgame press conference, Smart found himself pressed on his track record against Alabama, now 1-7 overall. When a reporter asked if that lopsided record might weigh on the program’s future, Smart fired back.
“I mean, what’s everybody else’s record against them?” Smart shot back, via On3.
“You got it? I don’t either. I don’t lose sleep over that because those games have been like championship-caliber games. Right?”
Smart emphasized that scouts and NFL evaluators regularly circle Georgia-Alabama matchups because of the elite talent on display, and he insisted the Bulldogs’ long-term trajectory wouldn’t be defined by one result.
“Next year won’t have anything to do with this year,” he added.
The coach is right that many of those losses have been razor-thin. Four of the seven defeats have been decided by a single possession.
And it’s worth remembering that Smart’s lone win over Alabama remains the most important: the 2021 national championship, when Georgia beat the Tide 33-18 to capture the first of back-to-back titles.
The sting of the latest loss was felt especially hard in Athens. Fans online lamented the streak ending, calling out both Smart’s decision-making and the team’s struggles against their SEC nemesis.
Others bluntly argued that Alabama continues to live rent-free in Georgia’s head.
For Georgia, the task now is to bounce back quickly. The Bulldogs host Kentucky on Oct. 4 in a game that will test whether they can reset their season and stay alive in the playoff chase.
