UT Longhorns football: Steve Sarkisian, Kirby Smart tops among coaches

AUSTIN — By both accounts, Steve Sarkisian and Kirby Smart are good friends.

And why wouldn't they be? They've got so much in common even though the defensive-minded Smart's more into sacks and shutouts and the offensively geared Sark's hunting first downs and deep passes .

Otherwise, they're a lot alike.

"We have things in common," the 48-year-old Smart acknowledged Wednesday about the 50-year-old Sark . "He's a bright mind. He's fun to be around. Competitor."

They're of the same generation, born just a year and a half apart.

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They were both very accomplished college players, Smart a defensive back with 13 career interceptions at his alma mater Georgia, Sark one in a long line of terrific BYU quarterbacks and a thrower of 33 touchdown passes as a senior.

Neither got drafted by NFL teams, but Smart spent a preseason with the Indianapolis Colts, while Sark played for three CFL seasons before both became coaches at an early age.

They've both dabbled as coaches in the NFL, with Smart working one season with the Dolphins and Sark three with the Oakland Raiders and Atlanta Falcons.

They're both highly successful at their chosen profession. Did you know they have identical 18-2 records over their last 20 games?

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They even socialize together every year, spending time on Nike trips in February, although we're not suggesting they are Darrell Royal and Frank Broyles, who went on golfing vacations together and played up to 90 holes in a day.

They learned at the right hand of Nick Saban, who salvaged Sark's career and seasoned Smart's

Heck, Smart's the highest-paid coach in college football at $13.2 million, and Sark shares the same tax bracket at $10.6 million, just below Dabo Swinney's $11.1 million.

Both have sons who play football.

Now, they're not mirror images. Sark's the flashier dresser. He wears shades. Total Cali. Smart looks gruffer and has David McWilliams' hair. He wears a visor. He's Deep South to the core.

Sark's a fitness freak who runs stadium steps at DKR and tries not to eat too many of his favorite oatmeal cookies. We're not privy to Smart's regimen.

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The one thing they really have in common? Both are dynamite coaches.

And they'll be connecting again Saturday night when their football teams interact in what promises to be the most compelling college game this season.

Georgia versus Texas.

No. 1 the last decade (OK, if you don't count Alabama) versus No. 1 right now.

And now they're in the same unforgiving SEC and on equal footing.

In fact, they may be the same guy, be it from different sides of the ball, although Smart seems to scowl more.

"We do have a very good relationship," Sark said. "It's more of a personality connection. We get along. We're both highly competitive, but we can also joke around. Oh, and we've got a lot of funny stories about our mentor that only he and I could talk about."

And Sark didn't give any of those up.

A national audience should be riveted to its television sets at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Viewers will watch two head coaches who, it says here, are currently the best two coaches in college football , with all due respect to Swinney and Ryan Day.

That's right. Smart and Sark are 1 and 1A.

Smart obviously belongs in the 1 spot. He's got two national championship rings. Sarkisian's looking for his first as a head coach.

Smart, of course, arrived as a nationally prominent coach on the big stage long ago. Sarkisian's at the front end of a journey temporarily detoured after stints at Washington and USC.

Their teams aren't 1 and 1A, but Georgia is lurking in the same neighborhood and could well get back to the top.

Texas is a clear 1, rightfully ensconced in the No. 1 spot in both the writers' and coaches' poll. Georgia sits at No. 5, thanks to the worst half of football in Smart's wildest imagination against Alabama, which has a vague claim to 1A only because it's knocked off the Bulldogs this season and last. "But," Sark said Thursday, "they showed they have a heart of a champion, and that's something for sure we ought to hold on to."

? He's a faster Derrick Johnson.

However, Vanderbilt shocked the senses out of the Crimson Tide, and South Carolina scared the bejabbers out of them the following week, making Bama fans look for loopholes in Kalen DeBoer's contract.

(Now it must be recognized in this space that Sarkisian is actually subservient to DeBoer, having been on the business end of not one but two big-time losses to DeBoer and his heretofore Washington Huskies. The first came in the 2022 Alamo Bowl when Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson sat out the game, leaving Sark without a backfield. The second came in the College Football Playoff semifinals in the Sugar Bowl, costing Texas a spot in the national title game.)

But we're looking at the really big picture here with these ratings. And DeBoer's Alabama team is a bit of a mystery. We're also talking the future here.

Georgia is, and has been, the gold standard of late. Sark called Smart's program "the pinnacle of college football for almost a decade." That's undeniable with two titles in the last three years, a streak of dominance that might have extended to three straight had not God's Coach, Saban, upset the Dawgs in the SEC title game and stolen their CFP berth.

Georgia's and Texas' operations are almost interchangeable. Dripping in talent. Pipelines to the NFL. Similar philosophies. Now, we do know Bevo XV is a big favorite over new Georgia mascot Uga XI. As Bevo would say, check the tape.

"The premise of our programs are very similar," Sark said. "The way we build our teams. Our belief in physicality and running the ball and in special teams. How aggressive we are in recruiting. I respect the way he's built his program at Georgia and the aggressive nature in how his coordinators call the game."

Smart's equally effusive in his praise of Sark.

"I've gotten to know Sark really well over the last couple years," he said. "We take a trip every every year together, and really enjoy getting know him and have a lot of respect for the job he does."

Mutual respect. Mutual understanding. Mutual records the last year and a half.

It says here in big bold letters Texas is the new Georgia. Or on the verge of becoming that. It's not there yet, obviously. Heck, Sark hasn't even won a bowl since he arrived in Austin and is 2-4 overall, but we can see what we see in 2024.

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The Longhorn players don't acknowledge as much.

"We're worried about being the new Texas," linebacker David Gbenda said.

Of course, the new Georgia might just be the old Georgia. Texas opened as a slim 31⁄2-point favorite, and this figures to be a fourth-quarter, who-has-the-ball-last kind of game, even though the Bulldogs seem to have slipped a bit with their run game production and passing game consistency.

Georgia's Carson Beck is a more polished passer than his predecessor Stetson Bennett, but the latter was drenched in intangibles and as great a big-game player as college football has seen. But Texas' Quinn Ewers may be Beck's equal this year.

Smart has weapons, for sure, but he doesn't have Brock Bowers or Ladd McConkey anymore. Sark has so many wide receivers, he has trouble finding snaps for five-star Ryan Wingo, who might be on the same level as Alabama's Ryan Williams. Texas lost two of its top four running backs in August, but Quintrevion Wisner punked OU with 118 yards. Georgia's running game ranks an appalling 92nd in the nation and lowly 13th in the SEC.

The Bulldogs don't lead the nation in skill players at the moment, but they might in driving arrests, suspensions and dismissals, which certainly does nothing for Smart's depth or his program's sullied reputation. Sark's yet to shove an opposing player as Smart did against Mississippi State, although the Dawgs coach may have just been demonstrating proper technique.

Texas seems to be getting better and better. It brought its arguably C-plus offense to the State Fair and still beat Oklahoma by 31. Ewers was sacked on his first play and threw an interception on his first pass, and the Sooners defense was shut out on both categories thereafter.

"While we're watching (Texas beat) Mississippi State, I was really impressed," Smart said. "And then against Oklahoma, they even got better. So there's not, like, there's these weaknesses."

Smart, for the most part, can't beat Alabama, winning once in seven tries. Sark beat the Tide in his last try and would have gone 2-0 but for Ryan Watts' whiff on what would have been a game-clinching, last-minute sack in Austin in 2022.

Even Smart hails Texas as the "most complete team" he's seen, maybe in multiple years. And he's not kissing up. He means it. Considering the Longhorns rank first nationally in scoring defense and seventh in scoring offense — two fairly significant categories — the stats back him up.

It's interesting as well that Sark and Smart learned at the knee of Saban and have taken what he taught them and applied it at their next places of employment.

They've both reached the top — or are near the summit, in Sark's case — from different vantage points. Smart is totally defensive-minded, while Sark's an offensive genius, a title I believe is on his driver's license. That shows there's two ways to skin a cat, or maybe a Bulldog.

"They're for real in the trenches," Smart went on. "They've got really good players, and they're built like an SEC team. And it's hard to prepare for him, because he knows what he's doing offensively. He's really different in terms of what he makes you adjust to."

Sark wouldn't rebut that. And he relishes going up against his friends or mentors.

"I love competing against my buddies," Sark said. "There's no one you want to beat more than your buddy or brother."