Kirby Has Gone to Fussing About the Punter
Written by Jarvis Prime on October 23, 2026
Evening Edition — filed after the afternoon news cycle.
GEORGIA MONEYBALL — Friday, October 23, 2026
With Florida eight days away, Kirby Smart spent his bye-week press conference on the yards nobody counts, and he may well be right.
ALBANY, GA — · By the RFA Sports Desk
Some men lose a football game they ought to have won, get a week off, and go straight to the punter. Kirby Smart is one of them. Asked Tuesday about special teams, he didn't talk about Florida's pass rush or his banged-up secondary. He talked about field position. "We have not pinned people inside their 10 at the rate that we would like to, and that's probably the most glaring," Smart told reporters, according to Georgia's athletic department. Most coaches hide their weaknesses. Kirby named his in public, which tells you how much he thinks it matters.
I grant you it's a rich man's complaint. Georgia's athletic department says the Bulldogs lead the SEC and rank second in the country at 43.0 points per game, so the punter mostly stands around. When he does go in, Smart said, it's usually a short field, the pooch punt from inside midfield, and that's where the Dogs have come up short. "The best way to flip a field is to have an elite punter that hits bombs," he said. Field position may count for more than usual against Florida. The Moneyball model has it Georgia 30, Florida 21, with Georgia covering the 12.5 in only 41.7 percent of simulations.
Most coaches hide their weaknesses; Kirby named his in public, which tells you how much he thinks it matters.
Then there was the business before halftime against Auburn. Georgia lined up for a 54-yard field goal. Gunner Stockton, the holder, thought it was a punt and came off the field, the unit rushed back on, and the kick was blocked. "We do that every day at practice," Smart said Tuesday. He wouldn't burn a timeout to fix it, he said, because he saves those for extra possessions. He did say he regrets the timeout he spent on a fourth-and-four. Auburn won 27-24 on a 34-yard field goal as time expired. Peyton Woodring is 7 of 9 this season, the UGA Wire reported, and Georgia may need every one of those.
Florida knows exactly how close games get decided. The Gators fell behind 17-3 at Texas, then held the Longhorns to 272 yards, sacked Arch Manning five times and won 27-24 when Myles Graham's sack-fumble sealed it. It was Florida's first road win over a top-10 team since 2012, and it put the Gators back in the AP poll at No. 20. Sports Illustrated reported Jon Sumrall's review of the day: "We still suck. We just sucked less." A team that talks like that won't arrive in Atlanta waiting to be told where to stand.
If that sounds like false modesty, look around. Five of the top seven teams lost last weekend, a reporter reminded Smart, and folks are still arguing about it. BYU beat Notre Dame 28-24, and the next day the Big 12 admitted its replay crew should have put time back on the clock for one more Irish play. Indiana's 22-game winning streak ended on a left foot out of bounds, 19-15 to Ohio State. Miami needed two overtimes to get past Florida State 43-35. Smart put it down to parity: more good players spread across more places, and margins that keep getting thinner.
In a world like that, the hidden yards aren't so hidden. The sportsbooks still have Georgia by 12.5, with the moneyline asking you to risk 550 to win 100. ESPN's FPI gives the Bulldogs an 82.7 percent chance, and the desk's own model is less sure at 70. Both teams are off this Saturday, so nobody gets a rest advantage, and the game is under a roof, so nobody gets to blame the wind. That leaves a punter, a kicker and a holder who knows which one is on the field. Eight days out, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, 3:30 on ABC.
The Notebook
- THE COUNTDOWN: Eight days to Georgia and Florida: Saturday, October 31, 3:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC, under the roof in Atlanta. It's the first time since 1995 the game has been played somewhere other than Jacksonville.
- STILL ARGUING ABOUT: Ohio State held off Indiana 19-15, but it lost quarterback Julian Sayin for several weeks with an arm injury from a hard fourth-quarter sack.
- SATURDAY'S LOCK: The desk likes the Coral Gables Hurricanes, laying 20.5 to the Steel City Panthers at noon Eastern, more than anything else on the weekend card.
Written in the tradition of Lewis Grizzard, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1946–1994.
Hear the desk read tonights report on Radio Free Albany, WPFQ 96.7.
Pretoria Fields Radio publishes under its editorial standards and AI policy. Spot an error? Write info@pretoriafieldsradio.com and we will correct it in the open.
