Kirby Smart renews complaints about competing against Florida every year in Jacksonville

Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart celebrates with fans after defeating Florida in the annual Florida vs Georgia soccer rivalry game at TIAA Bank in Jacksonville, Fla. on Saturday, November 2, 2019. [James Gilbert/Florida Times-Union]

Okay, Kirby…we get it – you don’t like playing the Florida Gators in Jacksonville.

University of Georgia soccer coach Kirby Smart won’t give up his thinly veiled hints that he would like the Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville to be home-and-home, or a Jacksonville-Atlanta rotation.

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Smart was once again awaiting a tradition that will mark the 87th time that TIAA Bank Field has been played since 1933, a streak broken only three times, in 1943 by World War II and in 1994 and 1995 when the game went to their respective colleges for the stadium’s renovation for the Jaguars.

Smart’s rationale: Georgia’s game against Florida is the only SEC rivalry to be played at a neutral venue, and it’s not recruitable. Neither can the Gators, but Smart, who emerged from the first UGA national championship since 1980, is still not happy.

“I compete all over the SEC, which hosts recruits at their biggest game,” Smart said Wednesday on SEC Now during the SEC Media Days in Atlanta. “If Auburn plays Alabama, guess where the recruits are? When LSU and Alabama play, that’s where the biggest recruits want to go. It’s an opportunity for us to bring these kids flying in from all over the country – what game do they want to see Georgia play? They would love to see Georgia play Florida, but they can’t. It is very important. Recruitment is very important. I just can’t get a Florida coach to agree with me.”

However, there’s not much Smart can do. Jacksonville will be in the second year of a five-year deal to host the game, which runs through 2025 – assuming the schools exercise their option to continue the game in Jacksonville in 2024 and 2025.

And playing Florida in Jacksonville doesn’t seem to have hurt Smart. Depending on the recruiting service reported, the Bulldogs have had the top three recruiting classes over the past six years, finishing first in 2018 and 2020.

Georgia is 66-15 under Smart and has won the SEC East four out of six years.

Smart was not questioned on the matter during his appearance before the assembled media at the College Football Hall of Fame. But he revisited the topic during an interview with 1010-XL.

He was likely frustrated that Billy Napier would join the list of UF coaches who disagreed that the game should be pulled from Jacksonville, where it has national fame as one of the top three neutral-ground rivalries alongside Oklahoma vs. Texas and Army vs. Navy.

“I want to experience the game first, right?” said the freshman Gator trainer Wednesday during his interview session. “I’d like to see that game in Jacksonville, experience that game before I have an opinion on it.”

Napier did not deny that the game would still be a huge hit if brought to Gainesville and Athens.

“Both have a lot of credibility, don’t they?” he said. “Obviously the home-and-home would be fantastic. But there is also a certain tradition there [in Jacksonville]. There’s a rivalry there. Time will tell…this is above my pay grade. But I look forward to the opportunity to play the game.”