Kirby Smart goes after ESPN, referees after Georgia beats Texas

Kirby Smart didn’t hesitate to deliver his true thoughts in a postgame interview after Georgia overcame a brutal overturned call and still managed to knock off No. 1 and previously undefeated Texas on Saturday.

In an interview with ESPN’s Katie George, Smart started an answer by saying that “nobody gave us a chance” during their 30-15 win.

The Bulldogs, ranked No. 5 entering the showdown, had already lost to a top-five team this season.

But then Smart looped in ESPN and the referees into his answer, too.

“Your whole network doubted us,” Smart said. “Nobody believed us. And then they tried to rob us with calls in this place, and these guys are so resilient, you know what I mean? We talked about intent. What was our intent when we walked on the field? Our intent was not to take pictures, not to do all the superstar stuff. Our intent was to eat.”

During his response, it became clear that Smart was still fuming over a chaotic sequence in the third quarter when Texas defensive back Jahdae Barron’s interception was negated due to pass interference, only for it to get overturned after a review while the Longhorns’ student section threw bottles, cans and other trash onto the field.

The Bulldogs held a 15-point lead at the time, but after the officials flipped the call and Carson Beck’s pick prompted a possession change, Texas — which had already tried a quarterback change to Arch Manning before inserting Quinn Ewers again in the second half — trimmed its deficit with a quick touchdown strike from Ewers to Jaydon Blue.

Beck, though, responded with an 11-play, 89-yard drive, and Georgia held off any late attempt by Texas to mount a comeback.

“I will say that now we’ve set a precedent that if you throw a bunch of stuff on the field and endanger athletes, that you have a chance to get your call reversed,” Smart told reporters postgame. “That’s unfortunate because to me that’s dangerous. That’s not what we want. That’s not criticizing officials. That’s what happened.”

Smart and the Bulldogs will certainly move up in the Associated Press Top 25 following the win in Austin, Texas.

The Longhorns will certainly drop — maybe out of the top five, maybe just down a spot or two — after the loss.

With the College Football Playoff’s new 12-team format, there’s certainly a chance the pair of teams could meet again during the 2024 season, too.

And if that happens, Smart would want more people to give his Bulldogs a chance.