Kirby Smart sees Florida playing at a 'really high level' entering rivalry matchup

The Georgia Bulldogs and Florida Gators will face off in Week 9 of the college football season for their annual showdown known as ‘The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.’ This year’s matchup looks exciting as the Gators sit just one loss out of first place in the SEC East behind the Bulldogs.

As both teams prepare for this huge SEC rivalry matchup, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart shares his thoughts on how Florida has looked this season. The Bulldogs’ head coach had some high praise for the Gators and their starting quarterback, Graham Mertz.

“They’ve played their best football probably the last two weeks or so,” said Smart. “And when you look at the statistics on the quarter, he’s probably the number one quarterback in the country for two games in terms of the way he played. You can tell he’s got a lot of confidence in their offense and in their system. They are able to execute (and) do a lot of things with him. He handles it well, he makes a lot of good run checks for them, has done a really good job of not putting them in harm’s way in his decision-making process. So they’re playing at a really high level right now and doing a great job.”

Mertz has played well all season, but in particular, during the Gators’ last two games, he has been lights out. Against Vanderbilt in Week 7, he led Florida to a 38-14 Victory, completing 30 of his 36 pass attempts for 254 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions. Mertz followed that up with a 30 completion on 48 attempts for 423 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions performance in a 41-39 win at South Carolina. If Mertz is able to string together another quality performance against Georgia on Saturday, it could be problematic for the Bulldogs on their quest to win three straight college football national championships.

Smart offers opinion on ethics behind sign-stealing

Michigan‘s sign-stealing scandal and investigation has taken over the college football discourse as the Wolverines could be facing major penalties in the future for staffer Connor Stalions’ involvement in high-level, prohibited scouting.

Head coaches across the country have been asked about their take on the situation, and the back-to-back defending national champion Kirby Smart is no different. Smart faced the Wolverines in the 2021 College Football Playoff and was asked if he had any suspicion of Georgia‘s signals being stolen during that Peach Bowl matchup.

“No, I didn’t notice anything or know anything,” Smart said. “Nobody we talked to warned us or anything like that, I mean I think everybody we play they say, ‘They steal your signals’. I mean when we play somebody they’re always like they’re great at stealing your signals, but what they’re referencing is different than stealing them. I mean they’re talking about people coming to film on, that’s completely different. But we’ve tried to hide the signals, hold the calls, put signs up, do all th