Georgia football: Paul Finebaum raises questions about Kirby Smart after loss to Alabama

Paul Finebaum questioned Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart’s decision-making process in the 2021 SEC Championship game loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Another game vs. the Alabama Crimson Tide, another loss for Kirby Smart’s Georgia football team.

Georgia still made the College Football Playoff, but the Dawgs have yet to beat the Crimson Tide since 2007. The last time it happened, Smart was with Nick Saban in his first year leading a rebuilding Alabama team. Though Georgia still have everything to play for, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum brought to question if Smart can ever get over the hump and beat his mentor in the big moment.

“There will be some people railing against Kirby Smart,” said Finebaum on Monday morning’s edition of ESPN’s Get Up!. “Once again in the big moment …. he did not deliver. Now, again, it was against (Alabama head coach) Nick Saban, but this is now three times that he’s had a 10 point or more lead in a championship game against Nick Saban and failed. He has a lot of questions, especially at the quarterback position. Did he play the right one in the fourth quarter?”

If Georgia and Alabama win their national semifinal games, it would set up a rematch in the 2021 National Championship game up in Indianapolis on Jan. 10, 2022.

Paul Finebaum questions if championship stage is too big for Kirby Smart

While anyone and everyone has the right to rip Smart for blowing three 10-point leads to Alabama in a championship setting, he’s still going up against Alabama. This is the greatest dynasty college football has and will ever see. Though Georgia has had the talent to get past Alabama at times, the Dawgs have yet to do so. With all these bad losses in Atlanta, maybe a change of scenery is good?

Even if Alabama won decidedly in Atlanta last Saturday, it is incredibly difficult to beat the same team twice in a season. Saban knows this. Smart knows this. We all know this. Though the results could absolutely be the same in this potential national title bout rematch, the venue will be different. Getting out of that house of horrors that is Mercedes-Benz Stadium is a plus for Georgia.

Smart may not be able to beat Saban, but how many coaches are beating Saban regularly anyway?

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