College Football Leaves Door Wide Open for Kirby Smart and Georgia

BY JONATHAN WILLIAMS SPORTS ILLUSTRATED GEORGIA BULLDOGS NEWS, ANALYSIS AND MORE

UPDATED JANUARY 26, 2024 12:47 P

month into the new year, college football has experienced massive changes. Legendary head coach Nick Saban officially announced his retirement, Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer stepped in as the next in line and Jim Harbaugh is now the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. The sport will certainly look and feel a little differently in 2024, but one program likely isn’t complaining about it.

Kirby Smart and his football program came just short of the college football playoff in 2023 and their goal of winning a third straight national title. The Bulldogs’ historic long winning streak and dominant reign over college football came to a brief pause due to Alabama and Nick Saban. Stop me if you’ve heard that one before. But with Saban and the Alabama dynasty that football fans have come to know over the last decade-plus and another top coach in the form of Harbaugh no longer in the picture, there is an ample amount of opportunity ahead for the Bulldogs.

 

When thinking of the ten best coaches in college football, Kirby Smart now gets penciled in at the top with ease. But you’d have a hard time thinking of who to place right behind the two-time national champ. Maybe Dabo Swinney, but Clemson looks to be slowly spiraling out of control by the day. Or how about Brian Kelly? Certainly has had a lot of success but probably not enough to be labeled as the second-best coach in the sport. How about Ryan Day? Multiple college football appearances, annually one of the best teams each year but there still seems to be some questions there. The point is, it’s coach Smart and a decent drop off to the coach right behind him.

Now while Georgia may have the best coach in the sport by a wide margin and they do have the most success compared to any other program in this current decade, there are some reasons to think that Georgia won’t just go and rip off two or three more national titles in the next five or so years.