The usurper’s failure to take over the empty throne of Nick Saban is the talk of the town. The rivalry between Alabama and Georgia is one of the most anticipated match-ups of the season since the fans expect both of these top-tier teams to battle it right to the end for the ultimate finish. But if the Alabama Crimson Tide continues to run circles around the Bulldogs in the oncoming seasons in the future like they did this week, the most iconic rivalry in college football might just be in trouble. The Georgia Bulldogs faced their first crushing defeat of the season at the hands of Kalen DeBoer’s Alabama, which is a fresh and newer team, but still managed to upstage their rivals by a score of 41-34. Now, eyebrows are being raised over whether Smart has a rivalry against DeBoer or the program itself since he’s no closer to becoming the king of the SEC Conference than when Saban was in charge.

On the 30th September episode of ‘The Middle 8’ show, Brandon Marcello joined the Next Round’s Ryan Brown to talk about the recent game between Alabama and Georgia and how Kirby Smart is likely devastated by the results. The two analysts emphasized the highlight of the game which was Nick Saban looking down below on the match unfurling in a way that he’s very much familiar with, during the days when he used to don the hat instead of DeBoer.

Marcello spoke about how the game must have had an excruciating effect on Smart and said, “The problem here, Kirby is that you’re supposed to overtake Nick Saban near the end of his career. You weren’t quite able to do that. Now that he’s gone, he’s sitting high above the field that carries his name, watching it from his suite, just with his hand over his mouth, just kind of watching everything. And the king watching you still unable to sit in his throne. That has got to be absolutely demoralizing to Kirby Smart. When [Kirby Smart] goes to bed at night and no one gets to see his face and look at his dreams, that guy has ghosts, and it is not necessarily Nick Saban, it’s the Alabama Crimson Tide.”

Moreover, Marcello’s words held some truth to them since Smart looked to be agitated during the post-game conference on 29th September.

Kirby Smart reacts bluntly to the loss against Alabama

The Bulldogs losing out to Alabama is a tale that’s etched in the history of college football, but this year was supposed to mark the new era of Kirby Smart, where he would be the new dean of the SEC conference and win everything in sight.

And yet, the Bulldogs seemed to struggle a lot against their staunch rivals during the first half, where they were lagging by a 21-0 score.

In response to the results of the game, Smart defended himself by saying, “I don’t know, what’s everybody else’s record against them, you know? Has anybody got one better than one and six, that’s played them six times? I don’t think so.”

Though he did end up admitting to the mistakes in the team’s defense in the first half, Smart’s credibility is being questioned by the fans who don’t believe he’s ready to take up the mantle of the GOAT just yet. As such, only wins from henceforth can repair the damage that the Tide has caused to them, yet again in their electric rivalry, which now stands at 1-6.