Paul Finebaum: Kirby Smart channeled his inner-Nick Saban with postgame comments after beating Texas

Kirby Smart and Georgia dominated Texas from the get go but it was the head coach’s postgame remarks that caught everyone’s eye.

He claimed no one believed in Georgia, everyone picked Texas and so on and so forth. ESPN’s Paul Finebaum said it reminded him of a prime Nick Saban.

But Smart went full Smart, or Saban, according to Finebaum.

“It reminded me of stuff I’ve heard from Nick Saban,” Finebaum said on The Matt Barrie Show. “These guys now always want to blame someone. It’s easier that way. It’s how they get their players fired up. I mean, remember Georgia two years ago, when they won the title, one of the players on Georgia said, you know, I can’t believe you guys disrespected them. Said we’re going 7-5. They were the preseason number one team in the country. But that’s how I remember Alabama last year. The whole thing, that’s the new thing the players and coaches work on. 

“And I mean, it was Kirby was just simply channeling his inner Nick Saban there. It was pretty funny. I thought Katie George, instead of doing what some would have done and pushed back and got ended up with a pie in her face. She just kind of laughed, like, I don’t make predictions.”

Finebaum went on to say he doubted Smart watched any pregame shows picking Texas, but he got word of it.

“Our whole program was being doubted,” Smart said. “Did you watch the show this morning? I didn’t because I was in meetings, but I got 8,000 texts about it. Somebody was doubting us. Maybe it wasn’t y’all, but there’s a lot of people doubting our kids and the ability to go on the road and win.

“Look, we were able to win this game because of what we had done before this. Like, going to Kentucky and playing and going to Alabama and playing. We didn’t flinch. You don’t flinch when you’ve been in these battles.”

Sure enough, Smart said he wasn’t watching, just as Finebaum predicted. But this is one of those situations where perhaps the coach makes up motivation.

Hey, Michael Jordan did it, remember?

“I mean, you kind of have to say, like, are we gonna wake up Sunday going, why did we have so little faith in Kirby Smart,” Finebaum said. “Because it’s just the way we work now, Matt, I think predictions sometimes are based less on what people really believe, but which way the wind is blowing. It just seems like with all the FPIs and all, there’s just we all do it. I mean, I was sitting there in Knoxville yesterday, going, I really feel good about Tennessee, but Alabama can’t lose this game. I mean, you start thinking about things that have nothing to do with it.

“And by the way, it’s not like Kirby Smart is flipping the dial. Somebody told him, everybody on GameDay probably picked Texas because they were outside his hotel room, I’m sure. I am pretty sure that’s what he’s referring to. I sincerely doubt Kirby was channel surfing at the same time he was having team meetings.”

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