Last season, HC Kirby Smart’s defense did something it hadn’t done in years: it looked vulnerable. They gave up more than 150 rushing yards in a game on five occasions, and this year they have yet to concede even once. Now, after a complete turnaround, the 3x SEC Coach of the Year is pointing the finger for those struggles directly at himself.

“I don’t know if we thought that was a given last year, but we didn’t really earn that, and this group has earned it. They’ve practiced really well,” Smart appeared on the December 18 podcast with former UGA All-American David Pollack and described how he rallied the team after 2024’s defensive woes. “Last year was a little bit different for Georgia. It was an outlier cuz we weren’t really good at it.

We made a committed effort this offseason to say we’re going to do this instead of doing one-on-one pass pro every day at our light practices. The non-padded stuff, we’re going to do run drills. We’re going to block fronts. I think you get what you demand in this world, and you get what you demand in this game, and we probably demanded it more. It wasn’t that the last group was not capable. We probably didn’t demand it at that standard (in 2024).”

Georgia’s run defense is ranked 4th nationally and has given up just 79.23 yards per game. It’s a massive achievement since it would be the first occasion since 2021 when Kirby Smart has a top-10 run defense. Against Tennessee this year, Georgia allowed 125 rushing yards and won the game. Last year, though, UGA’s run defense gave up 146 yards on 39 carries and was ranked 36th nationally in that area. But it’s not just the run defense that has risen.

The team ranks 13th nationally in total defense, 7th in red zone conversions allowed, and 11th in scoring defense. Last year, the Dawgs ranked 23rd in scoring defense, 53rd in red zone defense, and 30th in total defense. In games against Texas, Charlotte, Georgia Tech, and Alabama, the Bulldogs gave up just 128 rushing yards in total. Factor in that the Dawgs limited Ole Miss to just 84 rushing yards, which was the first time any opponent limited the Rebels under 100 yards.

And Kirby Smart’s exploits look to have made a real difference in the offseason. All of it boiled down to the intensity of “demand” Smart created from each player.

Kirby Smart is famously known for producing elite defenses. In the 2021 season, when Smart won his first national title, Arkansas’s offensive coordinator described how clueless he was against Smart’s defense. “It’s almost unfair. They just keep coming and keep coming and keep coming,” said Kendal Briles. That year, Smart departed from the defense principles he had built under Nick Saban and brought his own defensive philosophy.

Now at Georgia, the national champion employed extreme athleticism to match with offense’s aggressiveness. Smart even famously said, “If you can’t run, you’re done.” The head coach departed from those 300+ lb defensive ends and made his defense a bit slimmer but extremely explosive. That blueprint followed and gave Smart another national title in 2022. But gradually, complacency seeped in when 2024 came, and hence came the defensive woes. Thankfully, now everything is getting back on track.

Kirby Smart also bounced back after initial struggles in the 2025 season

Despite the Georgia head coach working his players tirelessly in the offseason, some issues persisted. In the first eight games, the team totaled just eight sacks and didn’t even have three sacks in any game. Moreover, interceptions were also a problem as less QB pressure meant UGA totaled four sacks in the initial eight games. That also has changed now, courtesy of Smart’s unending desire to maintain “the Georgia standard.”

“I think I’d start with tackling. At the end of the day, that’s what defense is about, and good defenses have few missed tackles. When you look at two of our lesser performances, there were a lot of missed tackles,” said Smart on his defensive woes early in the season. The head coach then vowed to improve and has delivered right on the money.

The Dawgs have accumulated a whopping 12 sacks in just the last five games. Plus, the team has also totaled more than three sacks in three of the games. Talk about interceptions? The secondary has notched 4 interceptions in the last five games and has done that against three ranked teams. All signs point to a massive revival from UGA’s secondary and Georgia having a legit chance to win the national championship.

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