It doesn’t sound like there was much sugarcoating involved in Kirby Smart’s initial message to his new team.
The talk with the team “wasn’t extremely long,” according to quarterback Greyson Lambert. It was just Smart addressing the team, and one thing he said jumped out to a couple players who were available to the media on Monday.
“He told us it’s not a big difference between us and Alabama, except the margin of error,” sophomore linebacker Davin Bellamy said.
Smart held two fingers an inch apart, according to Blazevich, to signify how close that margin of error is. So the message was that there was basically as much talent in that room as there is at Alabama.
I’m already seeing an emerging theme here with the not extremely long stuff; today’s presser felt like more of the same. I welcome less happy talk in Athens.
The big question is whether these kids buy in and do so quickly.
“We know we could’ve played better. And we definitely have enough talent to be able to compete with anybody in the SEC,” Bellamy said. “It’s just those little things we need to fix. And I think he’s bringing that to our attention, it kinda got everybody locked in.”
Blazezvich compared it to what strength coaches usually tell players when they’re in the weightroom: Doing that one extra repetition isn’t going to get you stronger by itself, butt doing it enough times will set the right mindset.
“There’s very few people that go the extra mile, that go 110 percent,” Blazevich said. “A lot of people only go 80 percent and nobody can really notice the difference. But the difference is in the results. He’s saying we need to bump it up a lot more. That margin of error is very small and we need to get over that.”
Knowing there’s a problem is the first step towards fixing it. We shall see.
Get The Picture 
I think the team is gonna be buying what he’s selling in pretty short order. Gonna be like a light went on.
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Yeah, I’m hoping that it will be at least another 20 years before you start pulling for the other team again.
If I get you a ticket to the senior gala will you wear a t-shirt with your quote:
“With Florida now firmly in the driver’s seat, part of me almost hopes we have a few more losses in us so the decision is easier at the end of the year. I don’t want to hear “you can’t fire a coach who wins 8 games” at the end of the year.
Probably won’t take much hoping though. This team has 2010 written all over it.” 10.11.15
I’m sure everyone on the team will be very impressed with your fandom.
Let me know…
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I think you’ve made your point, man.
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Have I? He certainly doesn’t acknowledge it. As of last night he was still in denial about what he said. I think that it may be correct to say that Chili will continue to ignore the point and that my continuing to force his words down his throat is getting tedious and boring for many.
While that may well be true, each one of his “rah rah Go Dawgs!!” posts is like nails across a chalkboard for me. Allowing him to promote himself as a fan without this context is not easy.
That being said, in the future, I will find a way to address chili in a way that does not take from the general enjoyment of the blog for everyone else.
Let’s see how that goes. I would have preferred the sincere mea culpa that his offense deserves and we could have moved on much earlier, but chili obviously doesn’t have it in him.
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For the record, speaking strictly for myself, there’s nothing either of you can say that’s going to change how much of a “fan” that I think either of you are. I’m not sure what your end goal is of this mission to provide this context to everything he says, but it’s mostly wasted effort as far as I can tell. And you have provided PLENTY of context. By this point everyone’s opinion is formed. And my opinion is that you both like to argue – that’s about all that’s proven to me. 🙂
That being said, in the future, I will find a way to address chili in a way that does not take from the general enjoyment of the blog for everyone else.
Seriously, the only way to do that at this point is to not address him at all.
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Right on that.
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Don’t give up Derek until he admits it just once.
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Jeepers son…let it go. There’s no margin in it for you engaging the host. He said “enough”.
K?
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As a dedicated anti-authoritarian I take notice of the difference between being respectful and being a lap dog. I’m not sure you realize that there’s a line there.
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Let it go, Elsa.
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Fight the power!
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You want a poster who is a dick, acknowledges being a dick, and obviously enjoys being a dick, to apologize for it? Not likely.
You have two choices, either give up on your quest to change chili’s personality, or make yourself, and everybody else, miserable in the attempt. Seriously, you’re either going to have to let it go, or just embrace your future as a stalker. Maybe you can dox chili, print up his comments, and hope his boss likes Richt. I suggest you just let it go.
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I do think a mea culpa is appropriate, but not for being a dick.
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Dreck calling out Chili is stones from a glass house.
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Is that a HINT?
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Any chance of you guys just agreeing to not comment on each other’s stuff anymore? The thing is you both have valid reasons for feeling the way you do, but your arguments are the most pointless exercises in futility that I’ve ever seen.
If you guys will lay off each other, I’m willing to just automatically assume that anything Derek says, chili believes the opposite, and vice versa.
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It’s time for Chili to put his big city wise-guy ways aside and Derek to rest his hopeful school-girl enthusiasm and the two to come together for the time of our lives.
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I cant stop chuckling at this. Well done.
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Haw haw haw. That’s funny!
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Nobody puts Chili in a corner.
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Well done, indeed. I want front row tickets.
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I’ve mostly been doing that for awhile now, in case you haven’t noticed.
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You guys have a thread going as recently as 10:15 last night on the “Guess who’s coming to dinner”.
Take the “mostly” out of your statement, and all will be good. 🙂
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I did say “mostly.” 😉
Fair enough though. I’m as tired of it as anyone, I promise.
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Nope I haven’t noticed squirts. If there was an award for mostliked poster here at GTP you’d walk away with it. Jeepers you’ve won your own rebranding with “squirts”. Let it go son. As Bluto once told me…” carry that somewhere else”. You don’t have to have the last say son. Let it go.
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Man, all you do is call folks names on here anymore. I am sure some have had it with your ass too.
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“Squirts”
Wasn’t my invention…but it is very catchy. Lol.
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Or they can go and try to tilt windmills.
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I am sure the players will buy into what he is selling. The big question is whether the ream will win more.
Smart may be a Bob Stoops going from being an elite coordinator to an elite HC or with he will be a Mike Stoops. Without a track record as an HC all you and I can hang our hats on is optimism.
Since being optimistic is more fulfilling to me than pissing and moaning I choose to be optimistic about the future. We will have better idea 365 days from today.
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Kool-aid for everyone!
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I would not call it Kool-aid. I would call it optimism.
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Amen. I find that philosophy is best in life but I am accused of being a Disney DAWG.
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I’m optimistic as well. I apologize if I’ve come of as demeaning. I’ve got real life crap going on and football is my way to escape and I think I got too into it this year.
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Apology accepted. Prayers for your life situation.
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@ Debby: Can not imagine going through life and not being optimistic. That would suck big time.
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OK worrywarts, find something here!!!
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HA It’s exactly the kind of thing I sort of suspected was wrong under Richt, so I want to believe it’s a correct diagnosis, but we’ll see. I like the way Smart talks about things so far, though.
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Karl Childers for DC!
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Jeremy Pruitt sound a little bit like Slingblade don’t he? What’s wrong with the Slingblade we got?
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My brother is the chief of police.
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For the most part, I think CMR did a real good job..I do not think we are that far off. Is Kirby the man? I for one will support him until he proves he isn’t. Must fix the QB issue and the quality depth along the lines of scrimmage. Need to get over the RB injury bug too, that would help big time.
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Depth and roster management, ability to address chronic issues (see, e.g., special teams), effective hiring and staff accountability, diligence and attention to detail, convincing B-M to enable the program, being proactive instead of reactive, etc.
There’s a lot of room for improvement over the Richt Way. I think the potential is there. I think Kirby understands what needs to be done. I’ll be more interested in signs of “buy in” and resolve than our W-L record next year.
Oh, yea, avoiding tweets/games like this…
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Apparently HBC’s nap was not as long –
“COLUMBIA, S.C. — In a career of special moments, Steve Spurrier added another one in South Carolina’s 35-7 victory over fifth-ranked Georgia on Saturday night.”
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HBC wishes he would have coached that game shirtless with a Coors in hand.
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Only losers chill on bus rides! He’s your problem now, Miami.
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I will support him, too, and if he doesn’t improve the team my first complaint would be towards the guy who did not target a coach with a head coaching track record. My Alma Mater deserves everyone rowing in the same direction and supporting Smart.
One question, though. What is Smart going to do to avoid RB injuries?
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Reading this made me think of how often you see a game that ended in a convincing win or even a blowout for one team, and when you look back at the game, often times there’s one play that you really believe if just that one play had gone the other way, could have totally changed the game. Mitchell dropping a pass at the goal line against LSU in the SECCG. Rambo losing on a jump ball early in the game against SC in 2012. So many examples out there (not just from UGA games) where the difference really was in the margins, but even that small of a difference can lead to wide swings in results.
And not stir the pot here, just speaking for myself personally, but I feel like Richt consistently came up short in the margins. He did all the big picture stuff as well as anybody in the business – which was a big reason why he won as many games as he did – we usually won all the games we were supposed to win. But when it came down to all things being equal (especially talent-wise), and the difference just being in the margins, we came up short far more often than not. You said it perfectly – Knowing there’s a problem is the first step towards fixing it.
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I think it was a mix of this, the roster management woes (which he had finally started addressing, but too late for his job), and an only-OK emphasis on the offensive line. In 15 seasons, how many OLinemen did Richt recruit who went in the first round?
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^^^this. LOVED what he had to say about O-line today. We must have improved O-line and QB play next year for Kirby Year 1 to be special (said Capt Obvious).
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Actually the real indictment of MRs oline coaches is that’s a pretty good number of former Georgia guys on starting NFL lines. Hell Andrews start as a rookie early in the year on a good Patriots team.
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We missed David Andrews this year. Regardless of your stance on our former head coach and OC, the line underperformed and the loss of Boss was a big part of that.
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Coach Goff was known as, “One play away Ray”. There were so many big games where it came down to making one play (the dropped first down pass to put Alabama away comes to mind…and the phantom time-out calles by Florida on a two point conversion in the pouring rain, too)..It really came down to one play in a few games for his head to end up on the figurative pike.
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I expect to see a quick uptick on the field and then a leveling off kind of like Florida this year. Then the long haul grind will set in where we will find out who really bought in.
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I’m sure that the “leveling” had zero to do with Will Grier being suspended.
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Indeed I will always wonder what would have been if Florida’s starting QB had not been taking PED’s. I know they beat us with their back up but they might not have been as together if the back up had been playing all season.
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I’m sure there’s a bit of motivational speaking in there, too. It sounded like in the press conference he was saying there’s some holes. Of course that’s not gonna be the message to the team.
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You’re move, Derek 🙂
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Let’s hope before he left town, he want by Jimmy Williamson’s office and gave him some pointers.
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A nice, friendly chat between two coequal professionals.
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so the difference between UGA and Alabama is that Bama is more talented because they work harder.
Wow great insight.
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Fire McGarity!
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No. They’re more talented and they work harder.
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Plus, they’re less Christian. It’s kind of a dark triad of football success.
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I’d like to see a Viking priest added to the staff. The old Norse gods are more suited to our purpose than the Christian god. Praise Odin!
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#butt
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I don’t by the “margin of error” idea – that Georgia is “this close” to being as good as Alabama. If by “this close” you mean have your linemen about 15% larger, then yeah, and have receivers that arent 6-foot and under, then yeah.
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That margin is the measurement of players we’ve had to kick off the team for weed offenses and drinking thanks to our more stringent than everyone else in the conference’s policies. That’s the real test of CKS’s reign. If he can get some leeway on that, it will tell us if the Georgia Way has been toned down to make room for the Process. Go Dawgs and welcome home coach! GATA!
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We have had much larger problems than drug testing policy.
Drug testing policies didn’t get us blown out by Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida, Boise State, etc. Drug testing policies didn’t make our special teams suck for seasons on end. Drug testing policies didn’t hire Schottenheimer, Martinez, and Grantham. Drug testing policies didn’t make us mismanage the roster for years on end.
The Richt Way exacerbated the Georgia Way. But it wasn’t just a few strict policies that made Georgia an underachieving football program.
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We get it, you are down on Richt..Richt is gone. I see no need to keep pounding his policies into the ground.
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The guy above him was making a Richt-excuse sandwich again. If you guys don’t want to hear how Richt got fired, then quit trying to excuse how he got fired.
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Squirts
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Careful. Don’t get your blood pressure up buddy. I don’t want your great-grandchildren to miss you this Christmas.
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I was afraid we lost him yesterday in another thread.
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Exactly. One good reason to revisit Richt’s record is to correct revisionist narratives of UGA history.
For example…
Myth: Richt got fired because he didn’t win championships.
Reality: Richt got fired because his program fell too far below reasonable expectations for too long (far too many humiliating losses, persistent mismanagement of important areas like special teams and the football roster, and no championships).
Kirby’s early assessment of depth and comments about special teams and details are very telling.
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Please do not take this as a comment about any former coach anywhere, okay? I do not want the coach of my team in 2016 to have the disadvantage of having the most Draconian alcohol and drug policy in the conference.
I guess that is preparing a Smart excuse sandwich for future use?
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You’re really going to include South Carolina on that list? Spurrier might beg to disagree on the effect of those drug suspensions early in the year.
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South Carolina is most definitely on the list of teams that blew Richt out. The full list is even longer than what I provided and some teams listed above humiliated Richt multiple times.
So…which suspension caused the infamous post-nap 35-7 blowout on October 6, 2012?
Please be specific.
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Why bother? You are the unequaled historian of UGA football. What’s it going to take for all of us to pull together. I am finished talking about the coach of UM. The things I spoke of have been occurring since the late 80s. Can we agree to get behind our team and forget about the past?
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Okay, you win. It will make no difference to Smart’s performance to play UF yearly when UF is guaranteed to have all its players available due to it not having to suspend for drinking a beer or smoking weed, but we suspend a starter because he was driving and has an open container.
Then, 2 games later, face the same with Auburn.
Really?
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I’m glad somebody gets it. Thank you.
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Cherry picking a single example is a weak debate tactic. Is Nick Saban the best coach in America, with multiple national championships, or is he the coach who lost to Louisiana Monroe? He certainly can’t be both, can he?
Your original point was that the Georgia Way didn’t contribute to our teams losing, it was only (or primarily) Richt. But Spurrier (who might just know more than you do about the UGA-USC rivalry) wasn’t buying that. He very much appreciated facing UGA early in the year when summer suspensions for failing to use middle names were being served.
But, if you want to continue to blame all of UGA’s problems on Richt, or even worse, Richt’s religion, I doubt anyone can stop you.
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Blaming UGA’s problems on Richt’s religion? Where and when did I make that argument? Again, please be specific.
It’s nice of you to invent arguments and attribute them to others, but I will take a pass on that one. Thanks, though.
Stay sensitive, Napoleon.
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You don’t remember the statement suggesting Smart skip Sunday school that started us off? Unsurprising. For the record, Sunday school is an activity associated with Christianity. Google it.
And stay classy, Athens.
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UGA are light years behind on the line of scrimmage. Bamas defensive front looks like NFL across the board.
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+1
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I know the most comforting message everybody likes to hear on this topic. Here it is “Geogia will win the NC soon”. At least that’s what CBS commentator said. GooooooooooooDawgs, Woof,woof.
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You can’t win here …and frankly that’s a bit childish. This is Bluto’s blog and he invites us all to attend. But make no mistake …you. tread lightly. I sense that Chili has more street smarts with reguards to the Senators patience with all this backbitting. Put a sock in it.
We good smarty pants?
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Jeez Homer. Who are you talking to? Does your wife know that you got out again?
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Oh come on….you’re not executive material are you? You found me…why and who do you think I aimed that at. Lol. Go to bed son. Goodness.
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Kirby takes a little extra time to look sharp. Note the pocket square.
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Paraphrasing, “Demand excellence from everyone. If they aren’t delivering, then you have to make changes.” Yes sir!
Also loved his opening statement about his family.
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What Saban is doing is not rocket science. The “Process” is nothing more than focusing on the little things and eliminating that margin of error. Getting a little better each day.
The big difference compared to other schools is the near unlimited support Bama provides in terms of $$ and free reign. It will be interesting to see how much of both UGA gives Kirby.
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