Kirby Has Been Showing Gator Film Since the Leaves Were Green
Written by Jarvis Prime on October 26, 2026
Evening Edition — filed after the afternoon news cycle.
GEORGIA MONEYBALL — Monday, October 26, 2026
The head coach says his defense has been watching Jadan Baugh all season, and now the man is finally on the schedule.
ALBANY, GA — · By the RFA Sports Desk
Most coaches scout the next opponent the week they play him. Kirby Smart told reporters Monday afternoon that Georgia's defense has been watching Jadan Baugh since the season was a pup, long before Florida turned up on the calendar. "We've shown our guys clips of him since the start of the year," Smart said, and the question that went with the film was whether a man is practicing to tackle Baugh or practicing to tackle whoever happens to be across from him that week. That is a coach telling you what he's afraid of without quite saying so.
He has reason. Baugh carried the ball 25 times for 91 yards in Austin while Florida was sacking Arch Manning five times and winning on the road against a top-10 team for the first time since 2012. Georgia's athletic department lists Florida fourth in the league running the ball at 194.3 yards a game, and Georgia second in stopping it at 91.4. Fine numbers, until you remember Auburn's Byrum Brown ran for 115 on a Georgia defense that did not have KJ Bolden, and Smart said Monday he still doesn't know about Bolden because the team hasn't practiced since Thursday.
That is a coach telling you what he's afraid of without quite saying so.
Then Smart said the thing that ought to worry Bulldog people more than any tailback. Asked about the bye week, he allowed that the practices were scripted to keep bodies whole, and added, "I got less depth than we've ever had." This from a man whose roster was ranked first in the country two Saturdays ago. He also said that when you spend so much time trying to get healthy, you had better be ready to strike somebody, because this game is going to be physical. Resting and hitting are opposite chores, and Georgia has had a week to do only one of them.
Florida, meanwhile, is getting people back rather than losing them. Jon Sumrall said receiver Vernell Brown the Third practiced Monday after missing three games with a knee, and 247Sports reports quarterback Aaron Philo practiced too and is trending toward playing. Sumrall still hasn't named a starter between Philo and the freshman Tramell Jones, and Smart didn't seem bothered either way. He called both of them capable and said Buster Faulkner's offense is quarterback driven but doesn't require the quarterback to be perfect. That is the polite way of saying the scheme is the problem, not the man taking the snap.
All of which lands on a Saturday that looks less safe than it did a week ago. UCF beat No. 2 BYU in double overtime, Cincinnati handled Texas Tech, and South Carolina kicked Tennessee out the door at the gun. Georgia, having climbed to third without playing, is a 12.5-point favorite at the Benz with the total at 53.5. The desk's model likes the Bulldogs 30 to 21 and gives them a 70 percent chance to win, but only a 41.7 percent chance to cover. Kirby has been showing his players the tailback since the leaves were green. Now they get to find out whether the film took.
The Notebook
- FIVE DAYS: Georgia and Florida kick off Saturday at 3:30 Eastern on ABC at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Georgia laying 12.5 with the total at 53.5. The roof means no weather in the forecast or the model.
- THE WEEKEND'S CARNAGE: UCF beat No. 2 BYU 39-31 in two overtimes, Cincinnati got Texas Tech 37-24, and Texas held on 34-27 over Ole Miss after blowing a 21-point lead. BYU fell to No. 8 and Texas Tech to No. 13.
- THE COIN FLIPS: The desk calls two Saturday games true coin flips: the Desert Cats at the Red Raider Riders with Texas Tech laying 3 at noon, and the Salt Flat Utes at the Queen City Bearcats with Utah giving 6.5 at 3:45 Eastern.
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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