Georgia waited nineteen years for a win in Tuscaloosa, and Kirby Smart was not going to spend the walk off the field being humble about it. The Bulldogs beat Alabama 20-17 at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday, their first win in that building since 2007. When the clock hit zero, Smart pulled off his visor, turned toward the Georgia section, and mimed a belt whipping.
The video traveled fast. By Sunday morning the gesture was the second story of the game, with Alabama fans calling it disrespectful and Georgia fans calling it overdue. Both sides agree on what it was. They disagree on whether it was earned.
Smart Did Not Explain It, And He Does Not Have To
Smart never addressed the belt motion in his postgame press conference. What he did instead was flatten the emotional stakes entirely. “It wasn’t about Alabama,” he said. “It was about an SEC road win at a top-10 team and that, to me, is what matters.”
He went further, saying he does not judge his happiness or success on how Georgia plays Bama, and he credited Nick Saban with teaching him much of how he runs his program. That is the correct public posture for a coach who has lost to this program far more often than he has beaten it. It also does not match a man ripping off his visor to swing an imaginary belt inside a hostile stadium.
The honest read is that the gesture was aimed at the Georgia traveling section and the release was real. Smart has now won two straight over Alabama, following December’s SEC Championship Game. Nothing in the reporting says he directed it at Alabama players or coaches, and nothing suggests Kalen DeBoer has commented on it at all.
Georgia Won Ugly, Then Won Anyway
The complaint that Georgia needed help has teeth. Peyton Woodring’s 23-yard field goal with 5:25 left capped an 84-yard drive and produced the only points of the fourth quarter. On the clock-killing possession that followed, a personal foul on Alabama corner Dijon Lee Jr. handed Georgia an automatic first down with Alabama out of timeouts. Critics have also pointed at a pass interference that went uncalled.
Georgia earned the rest. Gunner Stockton went 18 of 22 for 249 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and he ran 14 yards for a score in the third quarter. The defense sacked Keelon Russell four times, including a nine-yard loss on third-and-10 that killed Alabama’s last real possession. Russell finished 16 of 30 for 185 yards.
Georgia is 6-0 and moved to No. 1 in Sunday’s AP poll with 66 first-place votes. Alabama sits at No. 6 at 5-1, which tells you how little this result actually damaged the loser.
The Celebration Is The Price Of Losing At Home
Here is the standard that should apply. If a coach wins the loudest road game in his conference, in a building where his program has lost for two decades, and then has to pretend it was routine, road wins mean nothing. Smart did not touch anybody. He swung at air in front of his own fans.
Alabama has spent twenty years setting the tone for how winners behave in this rivalry. Saturday it was the other sideline’s turn, and Smart took it. If Alabama wants the belt back, there is a game in Athens next year.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.