There comes a time when every coach in the ever-evolving sport of college football gets smacked across the nose by the realization that their philosophy is outdated, that their preferred approach needs a course correction to keep up with the opponents they most need to beat.
For a large percentage of people in this finicky profession, that moment comes too late. But Georgia’s Kirby Smart still has time. He would be well advised not to let too much more expire.
Georgia’s 44-28 loss Saturday to Florida is the fork-in-the-road moment of Smart’s tenure, the game in which it became clear that his program has been passed by its most important rival and that trying to play football like it’s still 2010 no longer is the right path to win a national championship.