Kirby Smart has got a lot on his plate right now. After Nick Saban retired, Smart was burdened with a ‘glorious purpose’. The world of CFB had spoken, and Kirby Smart was put up to the task of becoming the next legend, like Saban. This raised the stakes high. The Bulldogs have been having a decent season right now. With 2 massive back-to-back wins, the Dawgs faced quite the roadblock against the Wildcats. The entire offense which Smart had spent a long time building was challenged and dismantled by Kentucky with relative ease.

Now, call it hubris or something else, Smart has been way too calm about everything. However, today on September 24th on The Paul Finebaum Show, our favorite CFB analyst, Paul Finebaum alongside Rece Davis, made it clear that the problems for Smart and the Dawgs ain’t lessening anytime soon. “Kirby Smart does not have losing records against many people, if any, but he does have one against the team he once coached for,” Finebaum mentioned. If we go back and check, Smart had a 1-5 record against the Tide when Nick Saban was in charge. Alabama has managed to grab 8 wins out of the total 9 meetings both the Crimson Tide and the Bulldogs had.

With Nick Saban being there on the sideline during the showdown, Smart has to play his cards smartly. However, the ‘Nick Saban’ problem ain’t the only issue here cause Smart is about to face ‘double trouble’. Rece Davis points out, “But with Kalen DeBoer and his offense…. and his defensive system being a bit different, it adds a unique twist to the game.” With over 100+ games under his belt and even with the experience of leading a team to 3 national championship wins, current Tide HC Kalen DeBoer is someone you don’t wanna take lightly.

Against top-ranked AP opponents, DeBoer has a record of 12 wins and only 2 losses. For the 2024 season, the Crimson Tide has been a spectacle. With DeBoer revamping the entire play style of the team, the Tide with their QB Jalen Milroe have managed to grab 3 consecutive wins. While the game against SF started slow, DeBoer and his boys did pick up the pace during the 3rd and 4th quarters and managed to close the gap on the scoreboard with ease.

Kirby Smart has to figure something out for this one. This would be the first time the Dawgs would go up against the Tide without Nick Saban as the HC. However, Saban will be watching and breaking down the game and Smart has to impress him. So the question now is, will he manage to get that done or are there any other problems that will slow down Bulldogs and Kirby Smart heavily?

The injury problem for Kirby Smart

Back on September 23rd, Kirby Smart gave us an injury update regarding 3 key players on the Dawgs roster. The first and most important one was DL Mykel Williams. Williams had suffered a Grade 2 ankle injury and has been out for the last 2 weeks. However, during a press conference when Smart was asked how he felt about Williams’s situation, the HC noted, “I’m hopeful”.

While this doesn’t sound too promising, we got to know that Williams has had a lot of rehabs and also managed to run and practice a bit. His being on the team helped the Bulldogs allow only 18 total points during all 3 of their games. We gotta wait and find out if Williams can join in or not when the Dawgs go up against Bama.

2 more players who are still in the “questionable” bracket are Warren Brinson and Jordan Hall. Hall is yet to hit the turf because he is still recovering from his preseason injury and Brinson suffered a lower leg injury and is slowly recovering. If Smart manages to get all 3 of these players back on track, then things will get much easier for the Bulldogs.