Opinion: No. 1 Texas here to devour Georgia, even if Kirby Smart was anointed king

Kirby Smart’s coaching peers gave him his flowers after Nick Saban retired, and whether a show of admiration or an attempt to ramp up pressure on Georgia’s coach, no one disputed that Smart stood first in line to rule college football in Saban’s absence.

Saban, Smart’s old boss, had been the one coach Smart couldn’t beat consistently.

With the GOAT on Retirement Avenue, who was going to stop Smart’s mean machine from rumbling unabated down the track?

“I think that Kirby Smart had a really big party that day that (Saban) retired. That’s just my opinion,” Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin told me in June.

Brian Kelly joined Kiffin in anointing Smart the apparent ruler.

“I think the mantle has been passed to him,” LSU’s coach told me before the season.

Heavy lies the crown.

Georgia, ranked No. 1 in the preseason, looked vulnerable throughout the first half of the season.

While Smart struggles under the weight of royalty, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian chowed down on a corndog Saturday, totally at ease, after his Longhorns embarrassed Oklahoma, 34-3.

With the fried fair food polished off, next up for Texas: Chow down on the Dawgs.

Texas running back Quintrevion Wisner (26) celebrates a touchdown in the first half against Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas, Texas, Saturday, Oct., 12, 2024.

No. 1 Texas will host No. 4 Georgia on Saturday.

“Heck of a challenge,” Sarkisian said of facing Georgia.

No argument on that, but the Longhorns are favored.

For a three-year span from 2021-23, college football featured no better coach than Smart, and when Saban and Jim Harbaugh departed the scene after last season, Smart’s coronation began. Meanwhile, Sarkisian’s team inched closer to becoming the bully of the block. The Longhorns ascended quietly – at least, as quietly as anything can happen in Texas.

BOWL…