Craig Dandridge Just Smiled
Written by Jarvis Prime on October 12, 2026
GEORGIA MONEYBALL — Monday, October 12, 2026
Alabama took two swings at a Georgia player, he answered with a grin, and that grin may have been the most disciplined play of Georgia's afternoon in Tuscaloosa.
ALBANY, GA — · By the RFA Sports Desk
Saturday Down South got hold of a recording of Kirby Smart's postgame speech in Tuscaloosa. In it, Smart told his team that Alabama's Dijon Lee Jr. "swung and hit Craig (Dandridge) twice. Craig just smiled at him." The flag that followed moved the chains, and Smart summed up the whole afternoon in one sentence: "We needed a first down to win the game." Georgia won, 20–17. A lot happened in Bryant-Denny on Saturday, but the thing I keep coming back to is a young man getting hit twice and grinning about it.
Where I come from, boys are raised to hit back, and usually quicker than that. Craig Dandridge did the harder thing. He stood there and let the rulebook throw the punch for him. That isn't softness. It's arithmetic. If you hit back, the flags offset and everybody lines up again. If you smile, your team gets a first down. OutKick reported that the personal foul on Lee let the Bulldogs kneel out the clock. That means the last thing Georgia had to do to win in Tuscaloosa was keep its temper.
If you hit back, the flags offset and everybody lines up again; if you smile, your team gets a first down.
Georgia shouldn't have needed a stroke of good manners, but it did. The Bulldogs trailed 14–10 at halftime and missed a go-ahead field goal in the fourth quarter before kicking one on the next drive. DawgNation reported that with Georgia up 20–17 and 3:26 left, Smart told Glenn Schumann to be aggressive. The blitz sent KJ Bolden and freshman Valdin Sone in for a nine-yard sack that pushed Alabama out of field-goal range. Gunner Stockton went 18 of 22 for 249 yards and ran for a 14-yard touchdown. Even Kalen DeBoer said he "was clutch."
I'll point out, as gently as I can, that the player kept his composure better than the head coach did. Smart ran off the field doing the "belt" celebration, and Yahoo Sports reported that the internet took it about as well as you'd expect. DeBoer said Georgia got away with pass interference in the end zone right before that sack, and he noted Georgia was flagged seven times for 62 yards to Alabama's five for 50. Smart answered that he had "a lot of respect for this place" and that Nick Saban "taught me a lot."
In fairness to Kirby, OutKick reported this was his first win in Tuscaloosa as a head coach, and he'd waited a long time for it. "I didn't come here to lose," he said, and a man who has just won there can do a little dance. But the lesson of the day belongs to Dandridge, and it's one Smart would do well to teach all week. Football is a game of grown men with tempers, and somebody always swings first. Saturday showed it pays to let the other fellow be that somebody.
That lesson matters this week. Auburn comes to Athens on Saturday, and Saturday Down South reported Georgia opened as an 18-point favorite, with a total of 49.5. The Tigers are rested after a bye, which followed a 24–14 loss to Tennessee. In a rivalry game there is always some shoving after the whistle, and the Auburn fan who drove up from the Plains wants to see a Georgia player lose his head and hand back fifteen yards. The best answer Georgia has is the one Craig Dandridge gave in Tuscaloosa: smile and take the yards.
The Notebook
- RED RIVER SURPRISE: Unranked Oklahoma beat No. 1 Texas, 27–24, on a field goal at the end of a 31-yard drive that took 19 seconds. Arch Manning threw two interceptions, and the Longhorns fell to seventh in the AP poll.
- AROUND THE CONFERENCE: Kentucky beat LSU, 35–34, in overtime when Kenny Minchey ran in a two-point conversion on a quarterback draw. It was LSU's eighth straight conference road loss. South Carolina beat No. 16 Florida, 38–19.
- OUT WEST: UCLA won at No. 13 Oregon, 17–15, and stayed undefeated. The Ducks' offense struggled badly with backup quarterback Dylan Raiola.
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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