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Kirby Smart explains why playing FCS teams is important for overall health of football

Palmber-Thombsby:Palmer Thombs•09/06/22•

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(Photo by Rob Davis)

Kirby Smart understands the importance of games like the one his Georgia Bulldogs will play on Saturday against FCS opponent Samford. Without the paycheck that comes from playing the big name programs, many FCS schools would no longer be able to fund a football program. And in Smart’s eyes, that would damage the overall health of the sport, giving less opportunities for kids to play College Football.

“You know, I think it depends on where it goes,” Smart said when asked about if Georgia will continue to play FCS opponents when the College Football scheduling model inevitably changes. “What they require you to do and where the FCS, some of those conferences end up with the realignment and some of those things, it’s going to depend a lot on what you talked about; the scheduling, how many conference games you’re playing.”

“I do know it’s critical for these programs to be able to survive,” he continued. “And, look, high schools are our feeder programs, just like we are for the NFL. And if you’re going to have good high school programs, you got to have kids getting opportunities to play at all levels. Because there’s a lot more kids playing at a non-Power 5 level than at the Power 5 level. So if you’re a supplier of talent and the growth of the game comes from your youth sports and your high school sports, you’re going to diminish that as these programs fade away. And some of these programs cannot, cannot survive without these games. That doesn’t mean that I embrace them and love them. It just means that the programs can’t survive without these kind of funding without these games.”

Smart got his own coaching career started at a lower level. After playing at Georgia from 1995 to 1998 and failing to make an NFL roster for the 1999 season, he served as an administrative assistant back in Athens that fall. Then in 2000, Smart got his first full-time job in coaching at Division II Valdosta State. After two years there, it was on to Division I, but had it not been for an opportunity in a lower level of football, who knows how Smart’s career would have gone?

That’s why even in his seventh season as the head coach at Georgia, a program that’s finished in the top 10 each of the last six seasons including the Bulldogs bringing home a National Championship trophy this past year, Kirby Smart still sees the value in playing against teams like Samford.

Kickoff time for Saturday’s matchup of the Bulldogs is set for 4:00 p.m. from Sanford Stadium on the SEC Network. It’s the second time that Georgia and Samford have met in program history, both since Smart became the head coach. Georgia beat Samford 42-14 in the lone meeting back in 2017.

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