The Winning Smart Victory Post: The Century Edition

Y’all. I don’t know what happened. I’ve been writing the Victory Post since August 2021 (my first post was our opening victory over Clemson that began the 2021 National Championship season). Every time I write the post, I update the total number of games that Kirby Smart has been our coach, and somehow I completely missed that the UAB game was Kirby Smart’s 100^th game as the head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs. In fact, it wasn’t until I saw the headlines about this win putting Kirby at the top of the SEC coaching ranks (at the 100^th game mark) that I realized what a momentous occasion this is.

I had intended to talk about taking my niece with me to the game. She’s a longtime fan, but a mother to 3 young boys, so her opportunities to have a whole day to herself are few and far between. I intended to talk about seeing Vineyarddawg and his fiancée inside the stadium as we made our way to our seats. I intended to talk about how the weather was nearly identical to the 2019 game versus Notre Dame that I watched with Podunk (which may have been the first game we purposely planned to watch together in person). I intended to discuss the gentleman seated behind me, whose commentary was highly entertaining throughout the game.

But Kirby Smart’s 100^th game requires that I spend more time on the statistics than usual.

At the 100^th game of their careers:

Nick Saban was 84-16 (0.8400)

Steve Spurrier was 83-17 (0.8300)

Phil Fulmer was 83-17 (0.8300)

Bear Bryant was 81-19 (0.8100)

Apparently people who make their living writing about sports actually asked Kirby about it during his press availability before the game last week. His response? Classic Kirby: “I guess it’s a marker of some sorts of first 100. You know, I don’t know the significance of it outside that,” Smart said. “I wasn’t aware of that, but it’s one of those things if you do a good job and recruit good players and you have a good organization and good support, it allows you to make it to that number, you know? And certainly want to go out and play our best game at that mark.”

If you had asked me to predict his answer to the question, I wouldn’t have nailed the precise answer, but I would have been close in general.

However, it is our intention to celebrate Georgia Bulldog Football Wins whenever and wherever they occur. The ugliness or beauty of any particular win is irrelevant for the purposes of the Winning Smart Victory Post. It is therefore my deepest honor and privilege to bring to you this week’s edition of: The Winning Smart Victory Post.

Coach Kirby Smart coached his 100^th game this week for the Red & Black. He currently boasts an 85-15 record and a 0.8500 winning percentage, having carded his eighty-fifth win overall in the fourth game of the season against the Blazers of UAB.

At the identical juncture in their careers:

Vince Dooley’s 100^th game as head coach resulted in a Georgia Bulldogs win over Clemson in the second game of the 1973 season, giving Coach Dooley a record of 69-27-5 and 0.7150 percentage.

Coach Mark Richt was 80-20 (0.8000) after a win over LSU in the eighth game of the 2008 season.

One hundred games into his head coaching career Kirby Smart is five games ahead of Coach Mark Richt and ahead of Coach Vince Dooley by 16 games. As of now, he is holding his own versus the two winningest coaches in Georgia Football History.

As always . . .

Go ‘Dawgs !!!!