ATLANTA – If Alabama’s defense was distracted by coordinator Kirby Smart’s impending move to Georgia, the Crimson Tide sure didn’t show it.
Florida managed just 1 yard in the second quarter and 2 yards in the third quarter during Saturday’s 29-15 loss to the stingy Tide in Saturday’s Southeastern Conference championship game. The Gators finished with 180 yards, the fewest allowed by Alabama this season against a league opponent.
“We knew Coach Smart would be focused on this game,” senior free safety Geno Matias-Smith said. “It wasn’t a distraction.”
Smart, who has been on Nick Saban’s staff the past nine seasons in Tuscaloosa, is expected to be named the new head coach of the Bulldogs as early as today or Monday. The 39-year-old is a former Georgia safety who played under both Ray Goff and Jim Donnan.
Alabama is a sizzling 96-12 the past eight seasons with three national championships, and the Crimson Tide are the only team to qualify for each of the first two four-team playoffs. Smart is a finalist for this year’s Broyles Award, having won that honor for the nation’s top assistant in 2009.
“He’s as good an assistant coach and as loyal an assistant coach as I’ve ever had on my staff,” Saban said Friday. “I think any time people work together on a staff for a long time, they become like part of your family. Nobody has ever looked at it this way, but we’re kind of bigamists as coaches.
“We’re married and we have families, but we’re also married to our job, and you have to be married to your job and spend a lot of time with the relationships of the players and the coaches and the people.”
Saban was not asked about Smart after the game, and Smart avoided any interviews. His wife, Mary Beth, said on the field afterward, “I’m going to enjoy tonight.”
The former Georgia women’s basketball player was dressed in red and black.
Most Alabama players weren’t offering too many specifics on the Smart-to-Georgia move, but some did weigh in on the looming transaction.
“I know he’s going to be a great recruiter, and he’s going to get a great staff,” Matias-Smith said. “He’s just a good guy who knows what he’s doing.”
Said freshman cornerback Marlon Humphrey: “It would be weird to play him, but he’s a great coach.”
Scrambling scores
Alabama sophomore receiver ArDarius Stewart caught a 32-yard touchdown pass from a scrambling Jake Coker late in the third quarter to put the Crimson Tide up 22-7. In last week’s win at Auburn, Stewart had a 34-yard score from a scrambling Coker for a 19-6 lead in the 29-13 victory.
“Coker scrambled in the Ole Miss game a lot, and he scrambled in other games, too,” Stewart said. “I told him, ‘Hey, man, they know you’re going to run it, so look downfield and I’ll be there.’ In the Auburn game, he looked up, and I was like, ‘Hey! Hey! Throw it!'”
No Hargreaves regrets
Florida’s Vernon Hargreaves likely played his final game against an SEC foe Saturday, as the junior cornerback has been pegged as a top-10 pick in the 2016 NFL draft. The 5-foot-11, 200-pounder from Tampa had aspirations of adding to Florida’s eight league championships and three national titles compiled in the last quarter century, but the Gators were just 11-13 the past two seasons before winning 10 of 13 games so far this year.
“We had down seasons, but everybody stuck with it and pulled through,” Hargreaves said. “I’ve never had second thoughts. I’m a Gator for life, and that’s win, lose or draw.”
Tide tidbits
Alabama improved to 25-14 against Florida and evened the count to 4-4 against the Gators in SEC title games. The Crimson Tide had five sacks Saturday and now have 46 (the 1988 Tide set the school mark at 60). Derrick Henry improved his average yards per game against ranked teams to 180.9. Henry’s 23 TDs this season tie the SEC single-season mark held by former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and former Auburn tailback Tre Mason. Sophomore punter JK Scott has averaged 47.6 yards in his last seven games and averaged 51.2 against the Gators.