Bone to pick: Bulldogs’ Smart wants fans louder
ATHENS, Ga. — Coach Kirby Smart was disappointed in the somewhat muted performance of home fans in No. 5 Georgia‘s 31-13 win over Auburn on Saturday.
Even though there was an announced sellout of 93,033 at Sanford Stadium, Smart felt fans were not loud enough. Some fans even left early. Smart said he wanted the crowd noise to create more of a home-field advantage.
“To be honest, I’m probably disappointed in our fans for the first time,” Smart told Georgia radio network sideline reporter and former Bulldogs quarterback D.J. Shockley of Atlanta’s WAGA TV following the game. “I thought there was a lack of really affecting the game crowd-noise wise, passion and energy.”
Georgia (4-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) extended its home winning streak to 27 games, a school record. The home winning streak, which began in 2019, is the longest among FBS teams. Mississippi State visits Athens on Saturday in another SEC game.
“We need it to be tough on other teams to play here, but it’s not,” Smart said in his postgame news conference. “It’s not the same as it’s been in the past. It’s got to be energetic. It’s got to be.”
On Monday, Smart stood by his critique.
“I think I said what I said and stand by what I said and feel it could have been better, but my job is to coach the football team and I’m going to do the best I can in my power,” Smart said.
Smart’s concerns could have been influenced by seeing the struggles of other AP Top 25 teams in road losses on Saturday, including Vanderbilt‘s stunning 40-35 upset of No. 1 Alabama.
Following this week’s game against Mississippi State, Georgia will play three consecutive games away from Athens, including an Oct. 19 game at No. 1 Texas and a Nov. 9 game at No. 9 Ole Miss. The Bulldogs return home on Nov. 16 to play No. 8 Tennessee.
Smart’s criticism of fans was a popular subject of questions at his weekly news conference Monday. He grew testy after he was asked at what point of the game he felt fans let the team down.
“It’s like you’re wanting to make this us against them,” Smart said. “That’s not really what this is about. We’re a team. We’re a unit and I think it’s OK to say how you feel and try to pull the family together and pull in the right direction and you guys want to make it about ‘Kirby said this.'”
Two Georgia players made available for interviews Monday, left guard Dylan Fairchild and outside linebacker Chaz Chambliss, said they were not aware of a decline in fan support in the game.
“Saturday, I mean, I was locked into the game,” Fairchild said. “I’m fully focused on what I have to do.”
Added Chambliss: “When I’m on the field, I’m not really big into all the juice and all that. I just want to focus on my assignment and getting communication across the field. You know, it’s kind of just like a dead silence out there.”
Smart said Georgia’s long streak of consecutive home wins may have spoiled fans.
“You win these games at home and maybe you take it for granted if you win so many games at home,” Smart said. “But I know this. It’s hard. These teams going on the road across the SEC, you make it hard on them by what you do and what you create. … It’s about us all pulling in the same direction.”
Knight’s Choice has won the 2024 Melbourne Cup, defeating Warp Speed and Okita Soushi in a thrilling finish at Flemington on Tuesday afternoon.
The massive outsider saluted for Irish-born jockey Robbie Dolan, who claimed victory in what was his first ever ride in the “race that stops a nation”.
In what was a gripping 164th staging of Australia’s most-watched thoroughbred race, Knight’s Choice proved too strong in a sprint to the finish, pulling over the top of Okita Soushi and holding off Warp Speed by the barest of margins.
Trained by John Symons and Sheila Laxon on the Sunshine Coast, Knight’s Choice was well down the betting across all markets. It was Laxon’s second Melbourne Cup triumph after she trained Ethereal to victory 23 years ago.
“This is the pinnacle of all pinnacles, this is the Melbourne Cup,” Symons said.
Zardozi rounded out the first four.
As the field approached the final few hundred metres it appeared as though Jamie Kah, aboard Okita Soushi, would become just the second woman to ride the winner in the Melbourne Cup. But Okita Soushi was swallowed up as the winning post neared, with Knight’s Choice beating Warp Speed to the line after a peach of a ride from Dolan.
“We’ll be singing tonight after a few beers,” Dolan, who was a contestant on the 2022 edition of “The Voice”, told Channel 9.
“It is amazing and a lot of people doubted this little horse. Doubt me now.”
Laxon was more than happy with the ride, with Dolan threading his way through the field from near last on the bend.
“He started the race, and he knew how to ride him. We didn’t give him instructions, he knew what to do,” she said.
“I love it being down for the Australians. The Australian horse has done it, and Robbie is Australian now as well, so I’m thrilled to win the Cup, and it is the people’s Cup, and that’s what it is all about.”
Knight’s Choice is just the sixth Australian-bred horse to win since 1993, and the first since Vow and Declare back in 2019.
The five-year-old gelding carried only 51kg to victory and was making its first start over the 3200m trip. It had most recently come off a fifth-placed finish in the Bendigo Cup, but had showed sparing little form this preparation otherwise.
“I watched every Melbourne Cup for the last 40 years. I thought my best chance was to get him to stay the trip and, hopefully, he can run home and do the quick sectionals he can on a good track and he proved everybody wrong,” Dolan said.
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