The Auburn-Georgia rivalry has been ingrained in Kirby Smart since he was defensive back for the Bulldogs in the late ‘90s. And 25 years later, the annual showdown tends to be one of the most important games on his schedule as a head coach.
Gus Malzahn, from Arkansas, was raised outside the rivalry. But he’s been indoctrinated over the years as an offensive coordinator and then as head coach at Auburn to understand the game's importance to the Tigers’ success on the field, and to their fanbase.
There’s mutual respect between Smart and Malzahn; both deal with expectations year in and year out to create an elite product on the field in one of the most brutal conferences in college football. But that doesn’t mean things don’t occasionally get interesting off the field between the long-time competitors.
The week leading up to the 2020 edition of the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry provided another installment of Smart versus Malzahn. Whether it was intentional from Smart or not, the his response to Malzahn’s positive comments on his program did not sit well with Auburn fans, and both sides have spent the past 48 hours defending their teams' leaders.
On Tuesday, during his weekly press conference that serves to look ahead to Auburn’s next opponent, Malzahn took time, as per usual, to heap praise onto the Tigers’ upcoming foe. Malzahn has always done so in generic, coach-speak fashion, but also not incorrectly.
For example, last week he called Kentucky a “veteran team” multiple times, an apt assessment of Mark Stoops’ experienced club. Last year, he referred to LSU as “maybe the best” team in the country before it won the national title.
This week he called Smart’s Bulldogs “probably the most talented team overall in the SEC.” It’s very possible he’s correct. Georgia has won two of the past four recruiting titles in the 247Sports Composite, and it’s been in the top four in the recruiting rankings each of the past four years. Smart’s teams have played in three straight SEC title games, winning 36 games over the past three seasons and appearing in two Sugar Bowls and the 2017 College Football Playoff national title game.
But when told about the Auburn’s coach’s praise later in the day on Tuesday and asked how he thinks talent should be viewed from program to program, Smart didn’t perceive the comments as genuine, and bluntly responded with his opinion of why Malzahn actually made the remarks.
“I think if you ask somebody the week of the game, the team they’re playing has the most talent in the league,” Smart said. “And then the next week, that team will have the most talent, then the next week, that team will have the most talent. And that’s called coachspeak.
“So thanks, Gus. He has the most talent in the SEC, himself.”
Smart wasn’t done, using a later question about the Tigers’ receiving corps to further prove his point: “Well, they (Auburn) have the most talent in the SEC. So I’m very concerned when it comes to their receiving corps and their talent level.”
Malzahn and Smart have plenty of history both and off the field, dating back to Smart’s days as Alabama’s defensive coordinator and Malzahn’s as Auburn’s offensive coordinator. “I've got respect for him and he's a really good football coach and we've had some really good battles,” Malzahn said later this week. “When you're rivals, that's just the way it is.”
Let’s take a look at some notable entries against one another in their coaching careers.
2010
Auburn went down 24-0 to the Tide in the first half of the 2010 Iron Bowl. At the time, with Malzahn as offensive coordinator and soon-to-be Auburn offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee as a grad assistant, Auburn’s offense perceived that Smart's Alabama’s defense had picked up on some of their signals and tendencies with quarterback Cam Newton and the hurry up offense.
Malzahn worked to adjust how he was calling plays in the second half, and Auburn completed the monstrous comeback, winning in Tuscaloosa, 28-27.
2012
Malzahn and Smart battled off the field following the firing of Gene Chizik. Both were in the running for the Auburn job. After Malzahn’s hiring, the late Pat Dye said that if he had been part of Auburn’s coaching search committee, he would have gone with the Alabama defensive coordinator over Malzahn.
"But I wasn't on the committee and I don't know what went on with Kirby,” Dye said. “... Gus and Kirby, either one of them is fine with me.”
2013
In Malzahn’s first year as Auburn head coach and Smart’s second-to-last season as Alabama defensive coordinator, the famous Kick Six touchdown by Chris Davis buried the Crimson Tide’s hopes of an SEC or BCS title game appearance.
Though Smart’s defense and Malzahn’s offense battled to the end in a great-versus-great matchup and would have gone to overtime, it was the miraculous special-teams play by Malzahn’s team that Smart has said “haunts” him to this day.
2017
Smart bested Malzahn in their first two meetings as Georgia and Auburn head coaches before the Tigers won their 2017 regular-season meeting, 40-17 at Jordan-Hare Stadium. In a video captured by SEC Country reporter Lauren Shute, Malzahn was heard celebrating the victory on the field: “We whipped the dog crap out of them, didn’t we?”
Smart didn’t take much offense to Malzahn’s postgame elation. It was warranted, he thought.
“I’ll be honest with you, I think when you perform the way they did on the field, you earn the right to say really whatever you want,” Smart said.
Malzahn also had confidence speaking with Smart at midfield after the win. With an SEC West-deciding matchup against No. 1 Alabama two weeks later, Malzahn told Smart, “I hope to see you in Atlanta.”
Malzahn got his wish but Smart got his revenge. Georgia blasted the Tigers in the SEC title game 28-7, spoiling Auburn’s Playoff hopes and elevating the Bulldogs to the final four.
2018
Auburn’s offense was stymied in the second half, and the Tigers were on their way to a sixth consecutive loss in Athens. But Georgia wanted more. Up 27-10 with 3:20 left in the game, Smart called a fake field goal from Auburn’s 14-yard line. The pass from kicker Rodrigo Blankenship fell harmlessly to the turf.
Linebacker Deshaun Davis, an Auburn team captain, took issue with Smart’s playcall, claiming the game was already in hand and Georgia was attempting to rub it in their rival’s face.
“That's what they do,” Davis said. “I’m not going to give an honest comment, so — Kirby, we've got some words, though.”
Smart confidently defended his decision, explaining that a touchdown would have put his team up more than three scores, and a field goal wouldn’t have made a big difference going from a 17- to a 20-point lead.
“They coach their team and we coach ours,” Malzahn said at the time when asked about the play. “I don’t have any comment on that.”
2019
Georgia fended off a furious rally from Bo Nix and the Auburn offense to clinch its third straight trip to Atlanta, winning 21-14 in Jordan-Hare Stadium. When asked what he told his team in the locker room after the win, Smart was completely honest in his postgame press conference.
"I told them, 'How 'bout them [expletive] Dogs,' that’s what I told them,” Smart said.
He apologized two days later. Smart said he “wears his emotions on my sleeve” and that his players feed off that energy, but he still regretted the remarks and wasn’t proud of his actions.
"That's not what I represent and that's not the kind of behavior I want to have," he said. "I'm going to try to handle that a lot better. It was an emotional win, and I was very emotional in that, but I've got to do a better job than that."
Auburn currently stands as a 6.5-point underdog Saturday in Athens, according to BetOnline Sportsbook. College GameDay’s game of the week will kick off at 6:30 p.m. CST on ESPN.
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