Everybody Says Physical, Nobody Says Who
Written by Jarvis Prime on October 10, 2026
Evening Edition — filed after the afternoon news cycle.
GEORGIA MONEYBALL — Saturday, October 10, 2026
Both sidelines spent the week calling the other one tough, which is how you know somebody is fixing to find out the hard way.
ALBANY, GA — · By the RFA Sports Desk
The word of the week in this conference is physical, and it has been worn plumb out. Kirby Smart went on The Pat McAfee Show and said, "We think we're a physical team, and they're a physical team." Then he added, "Let's go find out." Over in Tuscaloosa, Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack called the Bulldogs "a very physical football team," and Kalen DeBoer said the Tide understand what Georgia is but "really try to keep it about us." That makes everybody physical. When that happens, it usually means nobody wants to be the one who says otherwise.
Not everybody bought it, mind you. On the DawgNation Daily podcast, host Brandon Adams fact-checked Smart's habit of calling Alabama "extremely physical" and said a number of people around the Crimson Tide aren't convinced the label fits. That's a coach's oldest trick: praise the other fellow's toughness the way a church lady praises the neighbor's casserole, loudly, in public, while keeping her own dish on the good end of the table. If Alabama turns out soft, Kirby warned you. If Alabama turns out hard, Kirby warned you about that too.
That makes everybody physical, and when that happens it usually means nobody wants to be the one who says otherwise.
If Georgia means to settle it, it helps to have the bodies. The 247Sports injury report has running back Nate Frazier off the availability list after he missed Oklahoma with a rib injury and played four snaps against Vanderbilt. Smart said Frazier could have kept going against the Commodores and was only held back because Georgia had the lead. Outside linebacker Chase Linton is back from a fall-camp leg injury, cleared but still rebuilding, Smart said. On the other side of the ledger, On3's Pete Nakos reported that receiver Isiah Canion is out again, his third straight missed game.
The desk's spreadsheet has some sympathy for the boast. Georgia's offense has converted power situations at 81.3 percent this season, up from 75.9 in 2023, and its stuff rate has fallen to 8.2 percent from 14.0. Georgia runs on 35.4 percent of its third downs. That isn't a team hiding from contact. The worry runs the other way: the sack rate allowed has climbed to 3.6 percent from 2.6. The fine print calls all of it descriptive, not predictive, which is a polite way of saying numbers don't make the tackle.
Kickoff is 7:30 tonight in Tuscaloosa, with Alabama favored by two and a half, and the desk calls it a coin flip. Smart called it "a brand game for both teams' brands," which sounds like something a man says after too many meetings with the marketing department. The plain version is better, and he already said it: let's go find out. Before midnight, one of these two coaching staffs is going to discover it was being a little generous with the compliments all week.
The Notebook
- THE GAME EVERYBODY'S ARGUING ABOUT: No. 20 Iowa beat Washington 41-24, a week after No. 5 Ohio State beat the Hawkeyes 31-14 in Iowa City. If they lost their nerve, they found it again in a hurry.
- THE JUG STAYS HOME: Minnesota beat Michigan 20-14 for its first win over the Wolverines since 2014. P.J. Fleck called it possibly "the best day of my life."
- TOOMBS COUNTY CALLING: Nick Carroll, a 2028 safety from Lyons, committed to Georgia, ESPN reported. 247Sports ranks him the No. 4 safety in the country, and he's the program's first defensive commitment in that class.
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.
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