Kirby Smart takes shot at Dan Mullen's recruiting efforts after Florida-Georgia

Dan Mullen made his opinion on Saturday’s Florida–Georgia game known. He believed the Gators were going to come out with a win, something Billy Napier could consider a staple for the program. Of course, Mullen might be a bit biased, being the Gators’ former head coach.

Well, Georgia wound up winning quite easily, as we have seen over the past few seasons. Really since Mullen was in charge in Gainesville.

Following the game, Kirby Smart took a shot at Mullen, who had heard of his pregame prediction. Smart thought he and Mullen were good friends, before pointing out one of the reasons Florida may have moved on.

“Somebody text me before the game was like ‘All these people predicting that we’re not going to win today.’ I’m just like ‘Golly, where is that coming from? Supposed to be my friend.’ He didn’t like to recruit though,” Smart said.

“He didn’t like to recruit though”

Kirby Smart just bodied Dan Mullen 😂 pic.twitter.com/olwut9SG5P

— Jonathan Williams (@Dr_JWill) October 29, 2023

So what led Mullen to make his Florida prediction? He was originally talking about the atmosphere in Jacksonville, one of the lone remaining neutral-site games remaining in college football. Mullen went from Florida “can” win the game to Florida “does” win the game.

“It’s unbelievable, I mean the atmosphere,” Mullen said on the Lexus Halftime Report during the South Carolina–Texas A&M game. “Listen, I think anybody can win this game because of the rivalry part of it coming in, the stadium’s split right down the middle. It’s an amazing atmosphere. Florida absolutely can win this game. I think Florida does win the game.”

Mullen spent four seasons with Florida, winning just one game against Georgia. It came during the 2020 season, a time when the Gators thought they were going to explode. It turned out to be nearly the moment the program turned for the worse, short and long-term.

Florida went on to lose their final three games of the 2020 season after being a candidate for the College Football Playoff. And then in the long-term approach, the wheels really fell off, with the main storyline being Mullen’s inability — or lack of desire — to recruit at the same level as a program like Georiga.

Smart has been known to drum up disrespect toward Georgia whenever it was not true. He was correct on Saturday, with Mullen picking against them on national television. Mullen ate his words with the on-field result only to catch a stray during the postgame press conference.