Kirby Smart 'not biting' on Mark Stoops quip about buying players

It doesn’t take much to set off new rivalries in the ever-fierce SEC, and Kentucky coach Mark Stoops tossed out some red meat on Monday night on his weekly call-in show.

Following a loss to Georgia this weekend, Stoops quipped that the Bulldogs have “bought some pretty good players,” using that as a vehicle of sorts to ask Wildcats fans to step up their NIL donations.

Of course, there’s another reading of that line there that comes out something like sour grapes. Smart, for his part, wasn’t taking the bait, according to the Athens Banner-Herald.

“No reaction,” Smart said. “It’s much to do about nothing, really. Mark is trying to garner interest in money from his fan base for his collective. We’re all trying to do the same in terms of trying get money for our collective. Mark and I talked about NIL pregame and we talked about it in our meetings. I’m not biting on that.”

A pretty polite response, all things considered.

Of course, Georgia’s talking on the field on Saturday said plenty as well. The Bulldogs were dominant from start to finish in a 51-13 win.

The Bulldogs more than tripled the Wildcats’ offensive output, racking up 608 yards to the Wildcats’ 183. Carson Beck and the Georgia passing game managed to pile on 435 yards, with Beck throwing four touchdown passes and backup Brock Vandagriff throwing another.

It was the 14th straight win for Georgia in the annual meeting, so there really wasn’t a whole lot of need for Smart to entertain Mark Stoops’ comments, and he passed them right by.

Georgia still ironing out execution in passing game

While Georgia’s passing game has put up some big numbers, the Bulldogs haven’t always felt perfectly in sync just yet. One of the things the team is working on is scoring faster.

That was less of an issue against Kentucky, with the team scoring touchdowns twice in the first quarter.

“First and foremost, just execute,” Beck said of his focus. “Our goal every single time we step on the field, every single drive, is to score a touchdown. Obviously, is that gonna happen? Probably not, but it is a goal.

“As far as execution goes, I think we did a really good job this Saturday. And moving forward just trying to be consistent in that way.”

Georgia will get a chance to rack up another solid outing against Vanderbilt on Saturday, the final contest before a bye week and a showdown with rival Florida in Jacksonville.

Georgia and Vanderbilt are slated for a noon ET kickoff on Saturday on CBS.