Kirby Smart has 100 wins with Georgia football. Where does the Texas victory rank?

Note: Some members of the staff opted to rank the top five wins of Smart’s tenure, and some, who put Texas lower in their rankings, listed 10 games.

Ken Sugiura, AJC

While a road win over a No. 1 team is a giant accomplishment, it is to the credit of coach Kirby Smart’s regime that it doesn’t rate among his top five biggest wins. Those spots are reserved for the Bulldogs’ five College Football Playoff victories – results that meant more to the program.

But the win rates in the next five, perhaps eighth. It was the first time Georgia was an underdog since the 2021 season opener against Clemson (also a meaningful win). It was also at a point when many were beginning to count the Bulldogs out while Texas was fancying itself the SEC’s new bully. A stunning result in the moment, the rest of the season will determine its full meaning and importance.

Mark Bradley, AJC

Playoff wins top regular-season wins, but two non-playoff wins bear mention. Beating Texas in Austin came at a time when there was reason to doubt Georgia. Winning in South Bend marked the first significant victory of Smart’s tenure.

Chip Towers, AJC

When discussing the best of Kirby Smart’s 100 wins as Georgia’s head coach, context must be provided. For instance, what could be weightier than a national championship? And also, should not playoff victories “just mean more” than regular-season wins?

I’d say so.

That’s the core debate when looking at last Saturday’s 30-15 win over Texas. It was huge and impressive in every way, especially to those of us who were fortunate enough to experience that incredible atmosphere in person. And it’s always historic whenever the No. 1 team gets taken down at home. Georgia’s 15-point win was the largest by a road team against the nation’s top team since 1982.

But thanks to the new 12-team playoff, it wasn’t a win-or-go-home situation. In fact, it’s quite likely that these teams will meet again. For me, that’s where you have to start when ranking Smart’s greatest wins.

Michael Cunningham, AJC

Georgia’s win at No. 1 Texas obviously was big, but it doesn’t measure up to any of Kirby Smart’s five victories in College Football Playoff games.

It doesn’t get any bigger than beating Nick Saban for a national championship. Beating TCU to secure back-to-back titles confirmed that Smart’s program has staying power. The 2021 season Peach Bowl victory over Ohio State also ranks higher than the victory at Texas because, let’s be honest, that was more of a national title game than the TCU game. The 2017 season Rose Bowl victory over Oklahoma and 2021 CFP semifinal victory over Michigan rank higher than the Texas victory, too.

Mike Griffith, DawgNation

Championships matter, and so does beating Alabama, and that’s why the 2021 CFP championship game tops the list of Kirby Smart’s biggest wins. It was the Bulldogs’ first national championship in more than 40 years, and it was a breakthrough.

The 2022 CFP title was big, too, and Ohio State represented the biggest threat in the CFP Peach Bowl Semifinal. The Bulldogs came from double-digits down with sterling play-calling, adjustments and elite performances by the offense, defense and special teams units.

Kirby Smart is 3-1 against No. 1 teams, and the two most recent wins over top-ranked teams — at Texas, and against CFP No. 1 Tennessee — represented contests where the Bulldogs’ legacy and place atop the SEC was on the line.

Jeff Sentell, DawgNation

There’s probably 15 wins that qualify for consideration in his career Top 10. My sorting criteria falls upon what did it actually mean. Was it a game where you can recite the score and fans will know who UGA played? Texas was big, but it only looms large in the sample size of this season. The ones that rank above it for me move the needle among the greatest wins in Georgia history. Not just Smart’s coaching history.

Kaylee Mansell, DawgNation

Although Kirby Smart’s tenure has been filled with plenty of thrilling games, there’s a certain level of poetic justice that comes with his 100th win at Texas. Despite still being at the top of their game, the Bulldogs were an underdog for the first time since 2021 with almost all of the national media picking the favorite. Yet, the Bulldogs delivered what I consider to be Kirby’s fifth best game of his tenure.

Connor Riley, DawgNation

I have the win over Texas at No. 10. Maybe it rises higher if Georgia goes on to win a national championship or if this starts a series of epic clashes against the Longhorns. Now that Georgia has fully arrived as a championship-winning program, regular season wins don’t carry as much weight as they did in the early days of Smart’s time at Georgia. It’s all about the endgame and perhaps this Texas win helps Georgia get there, again.

Brandon Adams, DawgNation

The 2021 national championship was the ultimate triumph against the program’s arch nemesis, quickly followed by the 2022 title game: an anticlimactic conclusion to a perfectly dominant season. The trio of CFP semifinal wins come next before Smart’s first trophy with the Bulldogs in the 2017 SEC Championship vs. Auburn. Then comes The 2021 season opener, when Clemson entered the game with two national championships and numerous playoff appearances, but UGA exited that night with proof it was ready to make a dramatic leap as a program.

Then comes Texas. Much has changed this season in the SEC, but a wild win vs. the Longhorns showed UGA is still a force to be reckoned with.