ATHENS — Just to be clear, Kirby Smart does not fear the so-called “bogeyman,” and doesn’t even know what that means when it comes to some supposed mental block where beating Nick Saban and Alabama is concerned.
The College Football Playoff Championship Game represents a chance for Smart, the sixth-year Georgia coach, to finally beat his mentor, Alabama coach Nick Saban in what will be the fifth showdown between student and teacher at 8 p.m. next Monday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
New York media met Smart in a clash of culture via Zoom call on Tuesday, and the result was predictably awkward. For all the Southern Charm Smart turns on for recruits and boosters, he is at times among the most difficult interviews among accomplished coaches.
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“First off, what is the bogeyman? What did you reference it as?” Smart asked the Wall Street Journal reporter rhetorically.
“I don’t know exactly what that is, so it’s hard for me to answer that question, other than they’ve also been a problem and a thorn for any team they’ve played besides ours. We have that in common with a lot of teams.”
First lesson: You don’t play mind games with Kirby Smart.
Second lesson: Smart steadfastly rejects the notion this game represents a competition between him and Saban, even though each essential acts as their own team president, general manager and coaching supervisor.
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There aren’t many positions in sports, let alone the business world, where an individual carries more power and influence than head football coaches at football factories like Alabama and Georgia.
Indeed, it’s a compliment to Smart that he has put UGA football on this stage, riding unprecedented strings of five-straight Top 10 finishes and four straight preseason Top 5-rankings.
The Bulldogs are also on the verge of having the largest NFL draft class in program history -- and the nation, this season -- with at least 11 players destined to be selected into the pro ranks this year.
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But when Smart was asked if he embraces the storyline of him versus Saban, or if he chooses to downplay it, the politician in the Georgia head coach overruled the competitor.
“It will never be about he and I,” Smart said. “I know he won’t make it that, and I won’t make it that, because that’s for you guys to do that.
“It’s about the players. It’s about those guys making the plays and putting them in a position to be successful,” Smart said. “It’s about the players .... that determine the outcome of games, not he and I.”
Super agent Jimmy Sexton, who represents Saban and Smart, likely takes a different tact when negotiating contracts with the universities.
Smart is due a contract extension, and he’s expected to land a multi-year deal worth upwards of $100 million guaranteed.
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Smart has overseen the rise of the Bulldogs to this championship level, from the $170 million in facilities upgrades since he has been hired, to the top recruiting classes he has landed in Athens annually.
But Alabama has been in the way, and specifically, Saban.
Saban has won four straight over the Bulldogs since Smart became head coach, winning the 2017 CFP Championship Game (26-23), the 2018 SEC Championship Game (35-28), a 2020 regular-season meeting (41-24) and the SEC Championship Game (41-24) on Dec. 4.
Whether Saban is the proverbial “bogeyman’ or not, winning the national title has proven a monster challenge for Georgia, which has not finished a season atop the college football world since 1980.
