Joel Klatt: Kirby Smart would have ‘giant issue’ with loss vs. Alabama, Kalen DeBoer

There’s no question that the stakes don’t get much higher in the regular season than this weekend when the No. 2 ranked Georgia Bulldogs head down to Tuscaloosa to face No. 4 Alabama. But could the stakes be the most high for Georgia head coach Kirby Smart?

Smart is regarded by most as the top coach in college football, winning two of the last three national championships. But college football analyst Joel Klatt recently explained why getting a win this Saturday is crucial for the Bulldogs head man.

“Kirby Smart has done everything in the sport and he has dominated everybody in the sport. He is, as I just proclaimed, the best coach right now in college football,” Klatt said. “However, the only thing that he did not do was really overtake his mentor, Nick Saban. In fact, he was 1-5 against Alabama in his career and Nick Saban.”

Smart’s one win over his mentor came in the 2021 National Championship game. But outside of that, Saban had Smart’s number during his head coaching career before retiring this offseason. As former Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer now takes over the Crimson Tide program.

“So this narrative around Kirby Smart is that, at least for me, he’s the best coach in college football, but he couldn’t beat Nick Saban. So if Kirby Smart were to actually lose this game on Saturday, that’s actually a giant issue,” Klatt said. “Because it goes from a Nick Saban problem that Kirby Smart had to an Alabama problem that he still has. So there’s a lot of pressure on Kirby, because this narrative around Kirby can almost be explained away in terms of the losing to Alabama.”

Smart boasts an impressive 42-2 record in the past three college football seasons, with those two losses, of course, exclusively coming to the Crimson Tide. Serving as Smart’s kryptonite, particularly on the SEC Championship stage. A reputation that DeBoer can now either uphold or break against Georgia on Saturday.

“But if he loses to a Kalen DeBoer Alabama team, it shifts from a Saban issue to a Tide problem and then it’s a team you’ve got to deal with. It’s a team that’s got a great recruiting class coming in, and that would not be good for Kirby Smart,” Klatt explained. “I think that there’s a lot of pressure on Kirby Smart even on the road, even in a year in which we’re going to have a 12-team playoff.”

Smart will look to add a tally to the winning side of his record against Alabama this weekend, as his team takes on the Crimson Tide at 7:30 p.m. ET in a game airing on ABC and streaming on Fubo.