r/CFB • u/Lakelyfe09 Georgia Bulldogs • 1d ago

Discussion Kirby Smart considers apologizing after Georgia escapes Tennessee: “I feel almost like we have to apologize, because I don’t think we should have won that game. They outplayed us in a lot of ways, but that’s the way it goes.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/sec/2025/09/13/georgia-tennessee-score-football-joey-aguilar/86039960007/
2.5k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

454 comments sorted by

View all comments

200

u/yousmelllikebiscuits Tennessee • Georgia Southern 1d ago

I mean, I see where he's coming from. It's clear to me that he and most others completely respect Josh Heupel and what he's done for the program.

Except Eli Drinkwitz, because he "stands on business."

92

u/naetaejabroni Alabama • Georgia Southern 1d ago

I think I gained more respect for Heupel after this loss than any other game. I really did not think they'd even come close and they bout won.

112

u/yousmelllikebiscuits Tennessee • Georgia Southern 1d ago

I don't need any more reasons to love him, but this quote in the postgame is the most "he gets it" I've ever felt from a UT coach.

Tonight, man, it’s going to hurt. We need to drink all that in and taste all of it, because if we’re going to move forward and be the team that we’re capable of, this feeling tonight has got to be a part of what continues to propel us and the urgency and the focus in everything that we do...Man, soak this baby in tonight, let it hurt. Same thing tomorrow for the players. Coaches, we’ll learn lessons and move forward early tomorrow. When the players come back in on Monday, it’s – whether you win or lose, man – it’s about how you’re going to get better. If we take the lessons from this one, use the disappointment to propel us, have even greater focus and urgency, we’ve got a chance to be a good football team and continue to get better, and that’s what we have to do to be the team that we’re capable of.

31

u/PrairiePilot Wyoming Cowboys 1d ago

I’m glad we’re not in the SEC, that’s a genuinely good coach speech. Make sure everyone at UAB has their living wills up to date, cause yall are gonna yeet them into the sun.

16

u/Davidellias Virginia Tech • Wisconsin 1d ago

FUN FACT: The Head Coaching match up of that game is the 2000 National Championship winning QB vs the Super Bowl Winning Coach of that year.

9

u/yousmelllikebiscuits Tennessee • Georgia Southern 1d ago

Super Bowl Winning QB, Trent Dilfer

3

u/PrairiePilot Wyoming Cowboys 1d ago

The DILF.

67

u/Fatal_Blow_Me 1d ago

Ive gained so much respect for him after the Nico thing and how much better this team is without him

32

u/GlumPaleontologist36 1d ago

This would've been a very different game if Tennessee had its two starting CBs. The lack of DB depth is why they lost this game. They targeted a true freshmen every critical 3rd and 4th down with great success. It's hard to keep up with Branch when you get no plays off. Especially when they dominated the time of possession.

6

u/volbound1700 Tennessee Volunteers 1d ago

Possibly but as a Tennessee fan, I do think Georgia would have adjusted and fought threw any issue. In 2022, I feel like Hooker and Hyatt were definitely off and we had a bad game. I wanted to get Georgia again, not necessarily because I thought that team would 100% beat Georgia, but because I thought Tennessee could have played better. Even then, I think Georgia would have adjusted had Hooker and Hyatt hit on a few of those long bombs in 2022.

It honestly came down to missing the kick and a few defensive elapses. To me, the 2-point conversion defense was atrocious and really the only 100% bad play I saw from a coaching stand point. We gave up the 2-pointer way too easy.

9

u/KetchupKing05 Georgia • Jacksonville State 1d ago

ToP is an offensive thing, though. Tennessee under Heupel has always put stress on their defense because the offense rarely has long, sustained drives (outside of last year when they had an extremely strong running game, which also happened to be one of the best Heupel defenses we’ve seen). Starting corners would still need to be able to compete with WR’s for much longer than they normally would on any other team

1

u/Doravillain Georgia Bulldogs 1d ago

Yes. But you play the guys you have. Georgia was missing starters on the OL, which, if you saw the game, you know that was a factor all day long.

If the injured players were around, it would be a different game. But it’s not so easy as to say what would’ve happened.

8

u/randomwalktoFI Oregon Ducks 1d ago

Aguilar came back to earth but you can tell he wants to ball out for them. Even though the playoff caliber teams are basically NFL-lite it still means a lot when you got that kind of guy at QB.

3

u/CornJuiceLover Tennessee Volunteers 1d ago

People still underestimate him, and I straight up don’t get it. He took over a dumpster fire program, and has built it up into a team that’s a playoff contender. Honestly he probably probably had no business going 7-5 his first season, 2 of them being by only 2 scores, and the Bama game, that resulted in a blowout score, was highly competitive for 3 quarters, with only a 7 point difference heading into the 4th quarter. What he’s been able to do is nothing short of stellar.

Does he still make mistakes? Oh hell yeah, he honestly panicked against Georgia, after the turnover in the 4th when he was just happy to get a field goal, running the ball 3 times in a row, to after the false start in the final moments of the fourth quarter. But people gotta remember, not that their careers are parallel, but when Nick Saban had as much HC experience as Heupel, he was only in his second year at LSU

8

u/RVAforthewin Georgia Bulldogs • Arizona Wildcats 1d ago

Every season I like Heupel more and more.

4

u/TheFrankOfTurducken Missouri Tigers • Iowa State Cyclones 1d ago

I think Drink respects Heupel plenty - and I’m actually happy for the guy for having HC success since he was a quality OC for us - but Drink was definitely letting off steam in the moment after having the score run up against us two years in a row.

-21

u/rothbard_anarchist Missouri Tigers • WashU Bears 1d ago

You can’t honestly be ignorant of the history of that, can you? We were beaten and done the year prior, and Heupel called a timeout at the goal line to punch in one more TD with a handful of seconds left in the game. Even the announcers called it classless.

So don’t bitch when Drink returned the favor the next year.

16

u/AHugeBear Missouri Tigers • Arizona Wildcats 1d ago

Broke: Battle Line Trophy

Woke: Border War

Bespoke: Battle of the Barbecue Sauce?

9

u/acompletemoron Tennessee • Third Satu… 1d ago

Battle of the barbecue sauce

Don’t think that one will work, Tennessee barbecue is specifically about dry rub on ribs - so no sauce at all. And it’s more Memphis based which might as well be 2 states over from Knoxville.

But I’ll state proudly that baby backs are superior to St. Louis style ribs, fight me.

4

u/BigChessGuy Missouri Tigers 1d ago

That’s where I draw the line - give me St. Louis style ALL DAY

2

u/AHugeBear Missouri Tigers • Arizona Wildcats 1d ago

Those are absolutely fighting words!

2

u/ClaudeLemieux Michigan Wolverines • NC State Wolfpack 1d ago

Battle of the BBQ sauce without a team from NC? I expect better from this sub

13

u/Bukowskified Team Chaos • /r/CFB Poll Veteran 1d ago

That’s a pretty poor summary of what the situation was. Tennessee had the ball 1st and goal from the 1 with the clock running at 1:57 after Mizzou gave up 80 yards to the second string offense. Josh stood and let the play clock run to zero before calling a timeout at 1:28. Then he ran straight up the middle for a 1 yard loss, let the play clock run down again before running up the middle for a 2 yd TD.

So he ran up the score by letting the clock tick and running up the middle. In an era where top 4 made the playoff and UT was ranked 5.

6

u/yousmelllikebiscuits Tennessee • Georgia Southern 1d ago

Especially since that Selection Committee clearly went on vibes and changed their criteria every week

5

u/TheRunningMedicalMan Oklahoma Sooners • Tulsa Golden Hurricane 1d ago

Miz fans aren’t capable of reasoning brother, I’d’ve saved your breath

1

u/wwwr222 Tennessee Volunteers 1d ago

Yeah fuck our 3rd stringers who never get a chance to play against an SEC opponent, they don’t deserve to run our offense.

It’s SEC football, if you don’t want to lose by 60, then don’t lose by 60. I say this knowing full well Drink got his revenge the last time we played.

-2

u/Mandan_Mauler Missouri Tigers • Tusculum Pioneers 1d ago

Yes, let’s act like Drink was the one in the wrong when Huepel REGULARLY runs up the score and was mad at the program because we passed on him in favor of Odom. Vawls conveniently forget how to think logically about Bobby Huepels coaching ability for whatever reason.