It wasn’t because we won two national championships. I never sleep at night, worrying about that. You’re always concerned about that as a football coach. I’m still wrestling with that.”Īnd then: “You ask about the invincibility question, or are we above the law. “I wish that we could prevent the speeding issues and learn from a horrific tragic event. “I don’t think there’s anything I would have done differently,” Smart said when asked about the last several weeks. Because if this entire offseason was about one potentially wrong newspaper story, there wouldn’t be so much noise right now. It means ratcheting up discipline and messaging. That means being more proactive when it comes to dealing with player problems and being more transparent with those actions publicly. Smart called the story “sensationalized and inaccurate.” Brooks called it “inaccurate and misleading.” Georgia’s department of legal affairs took the unusually aggressive approach of outlining mistakes and mischaracterizations in the story in a nine-page letter to the paper and is demanding a retraction.īut even in the best-case scenario of Georgia having not lost its moral compass, Smart must recognize the program is under a microscope like never before, not in a good way, and he must respond differently. It took two weeks before he, athletic director Josh Brooks and other school officials responded Tuesday about the sexual misconduct story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has consistently resisted being transparent about how he disciplines players, which can create doubt among critics that the issues are really being taken seriously. But he was slow to respond publicly when stories were being written about his players’ driving habits, before finally giving an interview to ESPN. I don’t believe Smart is a bad person or so maniacal and laser-focused on winning that he’s oblivious or uncaring about the issues. He’s responsible for the messaging to his players and how he responds to negative news publicly. But he is the face and voice of the program. Smart isn’t at fault for everything that has happened. It has been a bad offseason, the worst ever under Smart, from a tragic car crash the night of the Bulldogs’ championship parade that took two lives, to stories about street racing and traffic tickets that followed. Even if Georgia is right that the program was unjustly smeared by a newspaper report that suggested the school’s coaches and administrators look the other way when football players are accused of sexual misconduct, the cloud over this program right now is undeniable. Bennett was sacked twice for -25 yards and gained 7 yards on 5 carries.This would be a good time for Smart to reevaluate the way he does some things. Stetson Bennett won Offensive MVP honors, 23-of-34 passing for 398 yards with 3 touchdown passes and an interception. They earned it most of the time, and we had some big momentum stops in the first half and then had some big momentum stops in the second half.” “The most disappointing was the series before the half. “We tried man, we tried zone, we mixed it up,” Smart said. Stroud also rushed 8 times for 71 yards, but he was sacked four times for minus-37 yards. Stroud was 23-of-34 passing for 348 yards and 4 touchdowns. Georgia out-gained Ohio State 533-467 on the night, both quarterbacks lighting up the scoreboard in flurries.Ĭ.J. Smart pointed out Georgia missed field goals of 47 and 52 yards, and he said he was particularly disappointed by the four-play, 75-yard TD drive his Bulldogs allowed right before halftime. “I don’t know enough about TCU, but I know I respect their coach and their program, and they did a tremendous job today, but we’ve got to play better.”
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