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'Things are on the upswing' Bulldog seniors leaving Georgia with strong legacy
Posted: Tuesday December 29, 1998 06:12 PM
ATLANTA (AP) -- Kirby Smart knows he'll leave the Georgia football program in better shape than he found it. The Bulldogs were coming off a losing season when Smart joined the team in 1994, and things didn't get much better over the next three years. Ray Goff was fired as coach. Glen Mason took the job, then changed his mind. Jim Donnan was finally hired and everyone asked, "Who?" Then there were the losses. When Smart took the field after a redshirt season, he found himself part of the first Georgia team to give up more than 50 points at Sanford Stadium (a 52-17 loss to Florida in '95). His only bowl trip during those first three years was a 75-mile bus trip to the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. "When I was growing up, Georgia was good every year," Smart recalled Tuesday. "My whole goal when I came here was to leave here with things back to like they were when I was young." On Thursday, Smart and the other Georgia seniors will play their final game, once again at the Peach Bowl, once again going against Virginia. But this will be a much different team -- and program -- than the one that lost to the Cavaliers 18-17 three years ago. "We're not quite there yet, but we're getting close," Smart said. "Things are on the upswing around here, and our class had a lot to do with that." In Georgia's last Peach Bowl appearance, Goff already had been fired as coach, but was allowed to finish out a 6-6 season -- the third of four straight seasons in which the Bulldogs failed to win more than six games. The tide turned a year ago when Georgia finished 10-2, beat Florida for the first time since 1990 and finished in the Top 10 after routing Wisconsin in the Outback Bowl. The No. 19 Bulldogs (8-3) stepped back a bit this season, losing to Georgia Tech for the first time in eight years, as well as Florida and Tennessee, but Smart and the other seniors are proud of their legacy. "Sometimes, adversity can make you stronger," All-American offensive tackle Matt Stinchcomb said. "The young guys around here don't know what it's like to sit at home. But that can motivate you to work harder in the offseason and make sure you're in a bowl game every year." If nothing else, the Bulldogs have reach the point where an eight-win season is viewed with a tinge of dissatisfaction. Though this was considered a rebuilding year after losing key players such as Hines Ward, Robert Edwards and Mike Bobo, Georgia is no longer content with merely making it to a bowl. "Winning breeds winning," Stinchcomb said. "You always go into a game wanting to win and expecting to win, but sometimes when you struggle, it's tough to get over the hump. You have to learn how to win. You have to learn to recognize those four or five plays that are going to win the game." Georgia isn't over the hump yet. But the seniors helped start the trip up the mountain. "There's a strong foundation here," Stinchcomb said. "I expect big things from this team next year, that's for sure."
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