Kirby Smart post game comments

Submitted by 1VaBlue1 on December 31st, 2023 at 8:38 AM

I did not mark this OT because it deals with college football in general, not the Orange Bowl game in particular.  As we know, UGA beat FSU 63-3, mostly because half of FSU's players opted out for one reason or another and Georgia's players didn't.  Here's the money quote:

“People need to look at what happened tonight, and they need to fix this,” Smart began. “Everybody is saying we had our guys, [Florida State] didn’t have their guys. I can listen to all that, but college football has gotta decide what they want. And I know things are changing, and how things are gonna change next year. But you know what? There’s still going to be bowl games outside of [the playoff]. People need to decide what they want and what they wanna get out of it. It’s really unfortunate for those kids on that sideline that had to play in that game that didn’t have their full arsenal. It affected the game, 100%.”

He's calling out the NCAA to fix the portal - first and foremost - and to make the various non-playoff bowls worth more.  I have to admit that I never gave a second thought to the other bowl games next year, I've only thought about the playoffs.  I didn't even realize that 47 non-playoff bowl games will still be played.  And we'll watch them like we did this year while complaining about all the portal losses and draft opt-outs - just like we did this year.

I know Smart runs a really good dark money program in the dark, which is why he gets more 5-stars each year than Michigan gets in 5 years combined.  But I also like the way his teams play football.  And I can respect that the guy is looking at competitive balance here, even if it seems contrived to some of you (it doesn't feel contrived to me, in this case).

And he's right - the NCAA needs to find a way to fix the portal.  What will happen if players still have to enter the portal before the playoffs start next year?

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BornInA2

December 31st, 2023 at 3:24 PM ^

EASY: You get paid to play the games. If you don't play the games, you don't get paid.

You can't be a paid player and also not do what you're getting paid to do.

So you sit, you give back the NIL and scholarship percentage for the game(s) you sit.

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blueball97

December 31st, 2023 at 7:49 PM ^

One thing to consider is the amount of additional practice provided by bowl games,  it may not even be about the outcome of the bowl game for a lot of these teams, just more time to practice with guys who are around next year. 

Joined: 02/19/2012

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Shorty the Bea…

December 31st, 2023 at 8:04 PM ^

Bowl games are dying and will continue to die off with the expansion of the playoff. It's a good thing.

Next up: northern teams will demand to host playoff games so they are not all in the South which also affects results and recruiting. Michigan don't want to play every playoff game in Florida's backyard and Washington don't want to "host" Texas a couple hours from the visitor campus. Good. Good. Good.

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aa_squared

December 31st, 2023 at 8:23 PM ^

Hey, Kirby...you are a large part of the problem, with your buddies Satan and Dabo!!!

You three guys have been paying players for 5 - 15+ years, and forced everyone to pay for play.

Now you are upset that everyone is doing it and the players are allowed to make decisions that are in their best interest.

You asked for it, you got it, and now all of a sudden you're upset with it.

Thanks for helping with the destruction of the college bowls.

There is still a good chance, with NIL in place, that this player defection will continue to happen even with a 12-team playoff starting next year. Why would a marginal underclassmen want to ruin his chance of making money the next year, if he gets injured this year?

You reap what you sow!...and then complain about it.

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