Kirby Smart doubles down that streaks had no impact on Alabama loss

The Alabama Crimson Tide went Between the Hedges on Saturday night and handed the Georgia Bulldogs their first loss at home since 2019. In the meantime, the Bulldogs had won 33 straight games at home.

Instead of continuing that home success, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart saw another chapter written in his struggles against Alabama. Since 2016, when he took over at Georgia, Smart is now 1-7 against Alabama and has never beaten the Crimson Tide in the regular season. That includes a now-three-game losing streak.

After the game, Smart shared some thoughts on those streaks, and playing top-tier competition. There, he doubled down that no streak that became part of the storyline of this game actually impacted it. Instead, it came down to how his team played and did their individual jobs.

“We talked about history and what history is the greatest indicator of,” Kirby Smart said. “The best thing you learn from history is how to win big matchups, right? And they should feel comfortable because of our history because we’ve played 55 [ranked teams] or something like that since being here.”

With two national championship wins, including one over Alabama, at Georgia, Kirby Smart is no stranger to planning for big games. There, the goal is to make it so individual players don’t feel they need to be perfect. Instead, that they focus on their responsibilities.

“The things that I talked about were what wins big games. Okay, you’re not gonna play perfect. Accept that, right? The next thing is win your box. See a little, see a lot. And I wanted the focus to be on those three things, not on anything else because us winning 33 straight games here or my record against Alabama has nothing to do with this game. Everybody else, that’s everybody’s story,” Smart said. “But what our guys need to worry about was those other three things because those control how you win the game. Those examples are things that they instill confidence in you. Like, okay, this is how you win this game. You do this, this, and this, which we didn’t necessarily do.”

In the end, it still wasn’t enough for Georgia. In front of a raucous sellout crowd of 93,033, Alabama was able to win 24-21. It was the Bulldogs’ first loss of the season. Now, Kirby Smart returns to the drawing board next week against Kentucky.

Kirby Smart ‘doesn’t lose sleep’ over losses to Alabama

Whether Alabama has been coached by Nick Saban or Kalen DeBoer, Kirby Smart and Georgia have struggled against the Crimson Tide. Despite that, Smart isn’t losing sleep over those losses, as he explained after the game.

“I mean what’s everybody else’s record against them? 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 said.

“And even when we play in the regular season they’ve been — I just saw 25 scouts out there. They’re all there to watch these teams play. So that’s not going to affect me. I’m going to be happy and just go lucky if our team goes back and plays well. That’s what I worry about. But that, we’ve got to get better. And next year won’t have anything to do with this year.”