Georgia

Kirby Smart roasts Greg Sankey for Georgia schedule. He should thank him instead

Published

11 months ago

December 8, 2024

Press Room

Kirby Smart roasts Greg Sankey for Georgia schedule. He should thank him instead

Kirby Smart roasted Greg Sankey after Georgia’s SEC championship victory when he should have thanked the commissioner for a schedule that prepared the Bulldogs for the playoff.
Georgia forged its mental resilience from the fires of an SEC schedule that included three stiff road tests.
Georgia beat Texas in overtime, and now it’s off to a first-round CFP bye.

ATLANTA – Kirby Smart stood on stage bathed in glory, while his players celebrated an SEC championship, but even in this moment marked for celebration, Georgia’s coach set his sights on a new adversary.

When Smart gets on a warpath, he spares no one.

Even if that someone is college sports’ most powerful figure, the SEC’s commissioner, standing just a few feet away from Smart.

Smart roasted Greg Sankey after Georgia’s 22-19 overtime win Saturday against Texas in the SEC championship game.

Georgia’s victory unlocked a first-round playoff bye. When ESPN’s Laura Rutledge asked Smart during an on-field interview what that bye means, Smart sharpened his tongue.

“It means rest for a team that Greg Sankey and his staff sent on the road, all year long. We get to take a little bit of a break and get ready for the College Football Playoff,” Smart said. “This team needs some rest.”

Georgia fans cheered Smart’s acerbic jab at the SEC’s boss, while a grim-faced Sankey listened.

Fun though it might be to come after “the man,” when you unpack Smart’s comment, you realize how zany it sounds.

Georgia played exactly four true road games all season. One of those came against Kentucky, the SEC’s second-worst team.

The Bulldogs also played neutral-site games against Clemson and Florida, but neither Sankey nor his staff determined the location of those games.

Why Kirby Smart came after SEC’s Greg Sankey

So, what’s Smart miffed about? Probably, that Georgia drew road games against Texas, Alabama and Mississippi, all of which are ranked in the top 15 of the latest CFP rankings.

Three stiff road tests. Georgia lost two and won one.

Undeniably, Georgia’s schedule qualifies as one of the nation’s toughest, but it compares to the schedules faced by Florida, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Mississippi State, LSU and Vanderbilt.

Want to compete in the SEC? That means playing some tough games.

Anyway, Smart should thank Sankey instead of complaining.

Thanks to Georgia’s SEC schedule draw, no team will enter the playoff more battle-tested than Smart’s Bulldogs.

Also, as Smart well knows, road-home sites will flip next season, so Georgia will host Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss in 2025, when it plays just three true SEC road games, one against Tennessee and two against conference bottom dwellers Mississippi State and Auburn.

Think Smart will complain about that?

Kirby Smart sets up a new villain for Georgia to prove wrong

Smart, a motivational maestro, excels at creating straw men and rallying the Bulldogs to unite to take them down. Remember when Georgia’s Nolan Smith said the 2022 Bulldogs became fueled by experts projecting they’d go 7-5? Yeah, nobody sane said or thought Georgia would finish 7-5.

Sankey being cast as Georgia’s nemesis becomes the new “everyone thought we’d go 7-5!”

While playing the schedule the SEC handed down, Georgia built persistence and a healthy résumé. The Bulldogs own four wins against playoff-bound teams, more than any team under CFP consideration.

This won’t go down as Smart’s best team. Inconsistency became the theme of Georgia’s regular season. But, say this for these Bulldogs: They don’t go quietly into the night, even when they’re outplayed for most of the game – as they were Saturday, and as they were last week in an eight-overtime win against Georgia Tech.

Georgia rallied in the SEC championship game behind backup quarterback Gunner Stockton after Carson Beck exited with a first-half injury.

“We never panic,” Georgia running back Trevor Etienne said. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. It turns out being good for us. No matter what the situation is, no matter what happens, I believe in us.”

Georgia’s victory list includes a one-point escape against Kentucky, plus two overtime triumphs.

“Let’s find a way,” Etienne said of Georgia’s mentality. “That’s one of the best things about this team.”

Yes, indeed it is.

A lot of mental fortitude can be found within Georgia. It’s almost as if the Bulldogs were forged in the fires of playing difficult SEC opponents on the road.

“I’ve had more physically tough (teams, and) I’ve had more physically talented,” Smart said, “but I don’t know that I’ve ever had a more mentally tough team.

“They just keep coming and keep coming, and they never say die.”

Thanks a lot, Sankey, for preparing Georgia for the playoff’s rigors so darn well.

After Smart landed his postgame dagger at the commissioner, Sankey wrapped his arm around the Georgia coach later during the celebration and engaged him in conversation.

Only those two could tell you what was said in that moment, but if I could fill in the speech bubble, it would go like this: “Kirby, you’re welcome.”

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.

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Georgia

Georgia NAACP calling on state to help during ‘unprecedented’ demand for food

Published

10 hours ago

November 2, 2025

Press Room

Georgia NAACP calling on state to help during ‘unprecedented’ demand for food

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – As a U.S. District court awaits response from the executive branch on how they plan to at least partially fund SNAP, the Atlanta Community Food Bank told Atlanta News First they are dealing with “unprecedented” demand.

CEO Kyle Waide said they are currently serving around 250,000 families a month and expect that number to increase.

“Demand was already high before the shutdown,” Waide said. “We have not seen this kind of confluence of really dramatic demand that is part of the economic picture, plus a disruption created by the shutdown, plus a lot of pressure on our resources, all happening at the same time.”

Waide said the shutdown is putting pressure on their inventory. Their partner food pantries are busier than ever.

“I think it’s admirable that they’re stepping up,” Georgia NAACP President Gerald Griggs said. “I’m glad that non-profit organizations are stepping up, but this is why we pay our taxes.”

Griggs believes the onus is on Gov. Brian Kemp and the General Assembly.

“This is one of those situations where state and local have to act because the federal government has abdicated its responsibility to Georgians,” he said.

Griggs wants Georgia to dip into its $14 billion surplus to temporarily fund SNAP.

The governor said he won’t do that because the state wouldn’t be reimbursed for that money.

Kemp, who blames Democrats, said the one and only viable solution is to reopen the government.

“We’re hopeful that they’ll find a way to get the government open soon. In the meantime, we’re going to do everything we can to put our arms around the neighbors who need us,” Waide told Atlanta News First.

Waide said the best way you can help the food bank is by replenishing their reserve funding with a financial contribution.

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Georgia

Everything From Brent Key After Georgia Tech’s 48-36 Loss to NC State

Published

1 day ago

November 2, 2025

Press Room

Everything From Brent Key After Georgia Tech’s 48-36 Loss to NC State

Georgia Tech is undefeated no more.

The Yellow Jackets took their first loss of the season tonight when they dropped a 48-36 shootout to NC State. Georgia Tech could not find a way to get a stop, giving up nearly 600 yards of offense in the loss.

After the game, Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key spoke with the media and here is everything that he had to say:

“Congrats to a well -played game by Dave and his team. They lined up and physically kicked our ass in a lot of ways. It is what it is. That’s on me, right? I’ll take responsibility for it, right? We’re going into a bye-week this week, and we’ve got work to do. We have three games remaining, and everything that we have wanted to do is still in front of us. It’s our choice and our decision, right, how we respond to this outcome.”

“Yeah, I mean, I could say a lot of things right now. But at the end of the day, like I said, we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ve got to get corrected. Yeah, I mean, we’ve got to be able to take something away. You know, and, you know, I mean, they had, what, 200, you know, when Duke Scott had a great game, 243, yeah. So we weren’t taking the run away, you know, The noticeable thing, you know, there were a lot of hidden yardage in there that two yards, five yards, four yards that were, you know, missed tackles, you know, getting knocked back. But then, like I said, we’ve got to improve, and we will. I won’t make the excuses.”

“No, look, you know, it’s, first off, I don’t know if we put enough gas in the gas tank. I mean, that was, if you want to talk about that, but no, it’s, uh, there’s no excuses, Chad. There’s not. We have guys, you know, whether if the guys down, someone else has to step up and then they have to make plays. And, uh, well, you got to finish blocks. You got to, uh, you got to get off blocks. You got to run. You got to catch. All in all, uh, you don’t, uh, you don’t, you don’t have to so all in all, you don’t win with one phase of the game. You don’t lose with one phase of the game. When you win and you play complimentary football, same thing here. I mean, all three phases, we’ve got to improve. We’ve got to correct mistakes, and then we’ve got to.”

“Yeah, I mean, they scored. So obviously it was the execution, but it was really flipped. I mean, we weren’t consistent enough in the red zone. We had, you get the ball down to the one -yard line. You got to go to put it in offensively. You know, and those mistakes were self -defeating mistakes. So then on the defensive We, you know, they, they push us around, right? And that’s why I said, we got our butts kicked and that’s what you look at. And they’re able to run it in like that, down in their type, you know, or a, you know, second and seven to third and four to first down, you know, those types of plays, you know, we’ve got to do a lot better job. I’ve got to do a lot better job. All right?”

“Yeah, I mean, obviously, when you come off the field after a loss, I mean, no one’s happy. And he’s dejected as anybody. But I looked at the, you know, statistically what he did. I mean, statistically had a good game. But Haynes King doesn’t care about that. Haynes King, he’s a winner, he wants to win.”

“You know, we’re sitting in there wanting to take the clock down, right? And, you know, we’re getting that long situation. And then we get a sack right there, right? Yeah, it was a sack. Had a sack, got a little of it back, got in the field goal range for a long field goal. Missed field goal left a minute and the clock. Yeah, I mean, you know, middle eight was factors.”

“Yeah, he got banged up. I don’t know the status I’ll know after the game. Or when we get back in there.”

“Yeah, we’re always looking at what we’re not doing well, what can be better, and looking to be a better version of ourselves the next week. And we didn’t do that this week. We’ve got a bye week to do that to improve. And every area of the program, you know, that’s looked at every Sunday. That’s no different than what we would normally do and that I would normally do”

“yeah it was 8:25 left, yeah it’s 8:25 left that’s you know was, Yeah, you’re in a two score game. You got a, if you go for it, what do we end up on the minus? Yeah, we got like five yards. We got a minus one on the first play, and then I think we got six yard gain, five or six yard gain on it. On the third down play, you know, if you go for it and don’t get it, now you’re really, it’s out of control. Punt it back. You got all three timeouts. You don’t start using the timeouts until you know you’re five minutes and you know if we get a stop there, a chance to get the ball back. But you got it. I would not, I don’t second guess that one bit. Not one bit. You know, and look, there’s a lot of it. When you make those decisions too, or how you’re moving the football, you know, and going in waves with how you’re moving it. And right then we had a couple pressures on the two, on the second, the third down play.”

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Georgia

Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks addresses his name connected to LSU AD opening

Published

3 days ago

October 31, 2025

Press Room

Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks addresses his name connected to LSU AD opening

It didn’t take long after LSU followed up the firing of football coach Brian Kelly with athletic director Scott Woodward exiting for Georgia’s Josh Brooks to be connected to the AD opening.

Brooks name was bandied about to replace Woodward.

It made sense considering that Brooks is a native of Hammond, La., graduated from LSU in 2002 and worked at LSU and Louisiana-Monroe.

Brooks, hired as Georgia athletic director in January of 2021, took to social media on Friday evening Oct. 31 to put to bed any chatter he may be going back to LSU.

Brooks said he wanted to address the “speculation” directly.

“I have not been contacted by anyone at LSU, and more importantly, I have no interest in any other job,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “My focus remains on the University of Georgia, our student-athletes, coaches, staff and fans.”

LSU’s AD job and its football opening both may have become less desirable after Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said this week before the school and Woodward parted ways that Woodward would not be making the hire to replace Kelly.

LSU also does not currently have a school president, but a hire is expected next week.

Brooks in his post mentioned not only that he’s “fortunate” to work with school president Jere Morehead, but also Georgia governor Brian Kemp and the Board of Regents.

“This is home to me, and I’m honored to play a part in the incredible progress we’ve made,” he said. “The best days for Georgia Athletics are still ahead, and I look forward to continuing to build on the championships standard we’ve established here in Athens.”

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