Around the Dawg House will bring you daily updates from what people and publications are saying about Georgia, from inside and outside of Athens. 

Another stat shows why Kirby Smart is an elite head coach

There are 22 coaches in the country who are the head coach at their alma mater. Kirby Smart is one of those, as he played at Georgia from 1995-98 before taking over at Georgia in December of 2015.

Smart has already achieved a ton of success at Georgia, as he’s already won Georgia an SEC Championship and had the Bulldogs playing for the national title in just his second year as a head coach. He’s landed the No. 3 and No. 1 recruiting classes in each of the last two seasons and has Georgia ranked as the No. 2 team in the country in his third year.

Given the pressure that comes with coaching at your alma mater, on top of replacing Mark Richt who won a lot of games at Georgia, those numbers look even more impressive. And among those who both played and coached at their alma mater, only two coaches have had more success than Smart.

Smart has a .774 winning percentage through his first 31 games (a 24-7 record). That’s good for third among the 22 coaches who are at their alma maters. The only two coaches who have a better winning percentage are Wisconsin’s Paul Chryst (.818) and Stanford’s David Shaw (.776).

Smart’s mark places him ahead of coaches like Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, Richt at Miami and Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State. Smart can boost his winning percentage on Saturday as the Bulldogs take on the Missouri Tigers. The game kicks off at 12 p.m. ET.

UGA-Georgia Tech game highlighted as a key non-conference game for the College Football Playoff

Georgia is still a long ways away from selection Sunday for the College Football Playoff. But with the non-conference slate mostly wrapped up, ESPN used it as an opportunity to look back on the first couple of weeks to see who impressed and what tough non-conference games remain for the College Football Playoff contenders.

One of the games that came up on ESPN’s Heather Dinich’s list was the rivalry game with Georgia Tech at the end of the season. Dinich had it as the 4th most important remaining non-conference game in terms of shaping the College Football Playoff behind Stanford-Notre Dame, Virginia Tech-Notre Dame and Clemson South Carolina.

“Georgia has opportunities to beat LSU and Auburn during the regular season,” Dinich wrote.  “Considering how exponentially better both Georgia and Clemson have looked through the first three weeks, there isn’t any logical explanation as to why either should lose to its in-state rival other than … they’re rivals. A home loss to the Jackets would be ugly, but would it be a knockout blow? Not if it’s the Dawgs’ only loss and they go on to win the SEC. If it’s their second loss? Yes, much like Ohio State’s second loss to Iowa last year kept them out. Ugly.”

The reason the Georgia-Georgia Tech game is ranked below the Clemson-South Carolina game is that Georgia will have an opportunity to pick up some more impressive wins than Clemson will.

But while Dinich tries to downplay how bad a loss to Georgia Tech would be to Georgia’s theoretical College Football Playoff chances, don’t get it twisted. A third straight loss to Georgia Tech in Athens would be disastrous for Georgia’s season.

Make sure to come out to Marlow Tavern’s on Thursday

Want to talk some Georgia football with the DawgNation experts ahead of Georgia’s big game against Missouri? Well DawgNation has you covered.

On Thursday, DawgNation’s Brandon Adams and Mike Griffith will be at the Marlow’s in Brookhaven(3575 Durden Dr NE #301, Atlanta, GA 30319) to take your questions and talk about Georgia football.

Also, if you entered the Marlow’s Tavern DawgNation Invasion to LSU contest, the winner will be announced LIVE! If you haven’t entered, visit DawgNation.com by the 20th and click on DawgNation Invasion in the menu to enter. The Georgia-LSU game figures to be one of the games of the college football season so this is definitely something you’ll want to get in on.

Wear your Red & Black and get a FREE appetizer with your entree purchase.

The festivities start at 6 p.m. and end at 8 p.m. so come on by, have a bite to eat and talk some Georgia football with us. You’ll be able to talk about all sorts of things, whether it be Jake Fromm, Justin Fields or Kirby Smart. These events are always a great time and this one will be as well.

Best stories from DawgNation