When the time came Friday for the traditional pose-with-the-championship trophy for Georgia’s Kirby Smart and LSU’s Ed Orgeron, each coach was careful not to smile. Going by nothing else, one would think that was an indication of the seriousness of the moment as their top-5 teams face off for the SEC Championship game at 4 p.m. Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Indeed, there are some consequential repercussions surrounding these proceedings. College Football Playoff berths are on the line.
The truth is, that brief moment was about the only time the opposing coaches weren’t smiling around each other. Right at the end of the photo session, they finally broke character. Smart cracked a smile first, followed by a tension-breaking laugh and handshake from the man best-known as “Coach O.”
Actually, Smart and Orgeron laughed and joked together much of the day. They hammed it up on the stage at the Hyatt Downtown Atlanta for the SEC Coaches’ Luncheon, and they were small-talking and chuckling during their appearance obligations at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Turns out, these are two guys who genuinely like each other.
“Everyone has respect for Coach O. No. 1, he's a great person,” Smart said during a news conference Friday. “He’s fun to be around. ... I remember as a young coach, you would hear these stories about Coach O, and they were just crazy stories. I mean, you heard all these things. He’s got such a charisma about him and a character about him that you enjoy being around him.”
Said Orgeron of Smart: “We talk, we laugh, we joke.”
They first met on the recruiting trail, Smart as a young assistant and Orgeron as a wily veteran wearing different hats from many coaching stops. But they’ve gotten to know each other especially well these past three years since Orgeron took over as the Tigers’ head man.
“I have the great fortune at every SEC meeting of having ‘F’ on my left, Florida, and L on my right, Louisiana, so I get to sit between those two guys,” Smart said of Orgeron and the Gators’ coach Dan Mullen. “It’s definitely a big contrast. I enjoy getting to visit with Coach O.”
“I've known him for a long time,” said the 58-year-old Orgeron, who is 14 years Smart’s senior. “I enjoyed watching him play. He was a tough football player. When we go to coaches’ meetings, he’s very cordial to me.”
All niceties will be put aside for about four hours Saturday evening as these coaches' teams meet in a highly anticipated SEC title game. LSU (12-0) is undefeated and ranked No. 2. No. 4 Georgia (11-1) has won six consecutive games since losing to South Carolina on Oct. 12 in a stunning upset to a team that finished 4-8.
Accordingly, the high-scoring Tigers (48.7 ppg) have been installed as a seven-point favorite. But they’ll be facing “the best defense we’ve seen by far,” Orgeron said. The Bulldogs, have allowed only 10.4 points and 257 yards per game.
The national narrative is that LSU will make the CFP even with a loss Saturday. Orgeron insists that thought hasn’t entered his team’s mind.
“This team is focused,” he said. “This team has goals. Beating Alabama was great; going 12-0 was great. But this team wants to win the Southeastern Conference championship.”
So does Georgia, which is making its third consecutive appearance in this game as Eastern Division champions under Smart. This will be the Bulldogs’ third different opponent during this run, having beaten Auburn in 2017 and blowing a two-score, second-half lead to Alabama last year.
Georgia opened the season ranked No. 3, so it’s exactly where it expected to be, just not in the situation it expected, as an underdog to LSU.
“We’re excited for the opportunity to play in one of the greatest sporting events in all of college football,” Smart said Friday. “The history and tradition of the SEC speaks for itself. I know, being a South Georgia boy growing up, it was probably the biggest game you looked forward to seeing every year because the champion of this conference has carried itself well for many years, especially in the public eye. Our players have earned the right to be here and we’re excited about it.”
Of all the conference championship games being conducted across the country Friday and Saturday, this is the one with the greatest national implications and generating the most interest. That it features one of the more explosive offenses in SEC history piloted by a Heisman Trophy-favorite quarterback in Joe Burrow versus a Georgia defense drawing comparisons to the Miami Dolphins’ “No-Name Defense” of the 1970s gives it even more pizazz.
As for the Bulldogs’ offense, they’re going to be without their top two receivers, Lawrence Cager, who was lost for the season last week to an ankle injury, and George Pickens, who will miss the first half Saturday because he was ejected from the Georgia Tech game Saturday for fighting. But by all accounts, the Bulldogs will have the full services of star running back D’Andre Swift, who reportedly is showing no ill-effects from a bruised shoulder that sidelined him for the last quarter-and-a-half against the Yellow Jackets.
Swift, quarterback Jake Fromm and that offensive line “with those five guys that are going to play in the NFL” is what concerns Orgeron, a defensive line coach by trade.
What doesn’t worry him is him and his team playing in this event for the first time while Georgia is the game for the third year in a row. The Tigers are so excited about it that they got into town Thursday night.
“Our guys got to the hotel last night, and we had a tremendous meal,” Orgeron said. “We had smothered pork chops, fried chicken, collard greens. The guys loved it, just like one big family eating together. Went to bed at 11 o’clock and didn’t have to wake up until noon today. So, I’m sure they’re rested and ready.”
Orgeron smiled wide as he shared that.
