Ad Disclosure
Greg McElroy evaluates what back-to-back national titles would do for Kirby Smart
Published:
Greg McElroy quarterbacked Alabama to a national championship during the 2009 season, but he never had the unique thrill of winning back-to-back national titles like AJ McCarron, the Crimson Tide signal-caller who succeeded him in Tuscaloosa in 2011.
Well, on his “Always College Football” podcast on Wednesday, the ESPN college football analyst discussed exactly what winning 2 championships in a row would mean for Georgia head coach Kirby Smart. The former Alabama defensive coordinator has his Bulldogs right back in the national title game next Monday night against upstart TCU, with a chance to repeat and this time do it with a perfect 15-0 record.
“He’s been there for a while,” said McElroy. “He’s been there for 7 years. Boy does time fly.”
McElroy discussed just how close Smart came to winning a national title early in his Georgia tenure, namely the 2017 season when he lost to his mentor, Nick Saban, in an overtime classic in the championship game. Then he got over the hump, as McElroy put it, in 2021 by beating Saban and the Tide in the title game.
And now Smart is in position to join an exclusive coaching club by winning another crown the very next season.
“Think about where they’re at this year,” said McElroy. “Let’s talk what was lost from last year’s team. First school in NFL Draft history to have five defensive players selected in the first round in a single year.”
And yet here the Bulldogs are, back for another coronation on Monday night. And here Smart is, with a chance to go back-to-back like Saban did with McCarron in 2011 and 2012.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
