Uncanny may not be a strong enough word to describe the nearly identical starts of Kirby Smart and predecessor Mark Richt as Georgia football coaches.
Richt won eight, 13 and 11 games during his first three seasons in Athens (2001-03), while Smart won eight, 13 and 11 during his first three years as well. Richt’s second team captured a long-awaited Southeastern Conference championship, while his third team returned to the SEC title game but was defeated.
Ditto Smart, whose Bulldogs won the league crown in 2017 but came up short in their repeat bid.
Richt’s fourth Georgia team was ranked No. 3 in the 2004 preseason and was 5-1 at the midway mark. This season’s Bulldogs started out at No. 3 and stayed there until last Saturday’s 20-17 double-overtime loss to South Carolina, which dropped them to 5-1.
The Bulldogs of the early Richt era had to deal with a changing of the SEC guard from Florida’s Steve Spurrier to LSU’s Nick Saban, who led the Tigers to the 2003 national championship. There was also Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville, who guided his Tigers to a 13-0 season in 2004.
Smart took over in Athens with Saban fully entrenched at Alabama and is in a league this season with five members – Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia and LSU – that have been ranked among the nation’s top seven at some point these first several weeks.
Here is a closer look at the starts of Richt and Smart.
AP photo by John Bazemore / Georgia football coach Mark Richt watches as the Bulldogs take on South Carolina on Sept. 7, 2013, in Athens, Ga. Richt was the program’s head coach from the 2001 through the 2015 seasons.YEAR ONE
Both Richt and Smart took over cupboards that were anything but bare.
Jim Donnan’s 2000 Bulldogs had a starting defense that went 11-for-11 in terms of players who went on to the NFL, with standouts such as defensive linemen Charles Grant and Johnathan Sullivan, linebackers Boss Bailey and Will Witherspoon and defensive backs Terreal Bierria, Jermaine Phillips and Tim Wansley returning to star for Richt’s inaugural team. There was also a freshman defensive lineman Richt’s first year named David Pollack, who would become a three-time All-American. The 2001 offense included running back Musa Smith, receiver Terrence Edwards, tight end Randy McMichael and linemen George Foster, Alex Jackson and Jon Stinchcomb, and Donnan did a favor to Richt in 2000 by redshirting quarterback David Greene.
Smart inherited a roster in 2016 that would not have possessed any senior starters had it not been for a pair of graduate transfers – left tackle Tyler Catalina and safety Maurice Smith. The roster was set up for a bigger second season, especially when running backs Nick Chubb and Sony Michel and outside linebackers Davin Bellamy and Lorenzo Carter elected to return for 2017.
Richt’s first team lost to No. 21 South Carolina, No. 6 Florida and No. 24 Auburn during the regular season and had the huge upset of No. 6 Tennessee in Knoxville. The 2016 Bulldogs became the program’s first since 1961 to lose to Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech in the same season.
Edge: Richt
YEAR TWO
The 2002 Bulldogs claimed the program’s first SEC title in 20 seasons and did so in dramatic fashion, defeating South Carolina 13-7 on Pollack’s strip/interception for a score, topping Alabama 27-25 on a Billy Bennett field goal and edging Auburn 24-21 on a fourth-down touchdown pass from Greene to Michael Johnson. Georgia climbed to No. 5 in the rankings before losing to Florida, and the Bulldogs, despite downing Florida State in the Sugar Bowl to complete a 13-1 year, always trailed the undefeated tandem of Miami and Ohio State, who met in that season’s BCS title game.
Smart’s second team used an early 20-19 win at Notre Dame as a springboard to a 9-0 start that was accompanied by No. 1 status in the College Football Playoff rankings. That was erased with a 40-17 loss at Auburn, but the Bulldogs and Tigers met again for the SEC title in Atlanta, with Georgia breaking free for a 28-7 win. Georgia earned the third seed in the playoff and rallied from 17 down to defeat Oklahoma 54-48 in double overtime at the Rose Bowl, which may forever serve as the most exciting game in program history.
Georgia lost a heartbreaking national championship game to Alabama, 26-23 in overtime, but that marked the first time the Bulldogs had played for the crown since losing to Penn State in the Sugar Bowl after the 1982 season.
Edge: Smart
AP photo by Mike Stewart / Georgia football coach Kirby Smart walks onto the field during a timeout as the Bulldogs host Austin Peay on Sept. 1, 2018. Smart has been in charge of the program since the 2016 season.YEAR THREE
Richt’s third team lost to LSU twice, 17-10 on the road in September and 34-13 in the SEC title game. A third consecutive loss to Florida under Richt again hindered the Bulldogs – who had another stout defense with the likes of Pollack, Thomas Davis and Sean Jones – in the national conversation.
Last season’s Bulldogs also lost in Baton Rouge but were 11-1 entering the SEC championship game against undefeated Alabama with a playoff bid assured to the winner. Georgia led the Crimson Tide by two touchdowns on two occasions, but backup quarterback Jalen Hurts rallied Alabama to a 35-28 triumph.
A botched fake-punt attempt by Smart late in the game aided Alabama’s triumph, leaving the Bulldogs agonizingly short in their national title aspirations for a second straight year.
Edge: Smart
YEAR FOUR
The 2004 Bulldogs registered a payback victory over LSU, thumping Saban’s fifth and final Tigers team 45-16 in Athens. They were flat, however, the following week against visiting Tennessee with freshman quarterback Erik Ainge and junior running back Gerald Riggs. The No. 17 Vols used that 19-14 upset as their decisive edge in the SEC East race.
Richt’s fourth Georgia team wound up 10-2, with its second loss to undefeated Auburn.
This year’s Bulldogs notched a marquee win by holding off Notre Dame 23-17 on Sept. 21 in Athens, but they had an epic stumble last weekend against the Gamecocks. That upset marked the first time an unranked team had knocked off a top-five Bulldogs team inside Sanford Stadium.
Edge (so far): Richt
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.