#2 Life rule from Podunk:
Reputations cannot be bought. People can.
For those of you who have been around a while, this story may sound familiar. Mark Richt was the head coach at UGA, and it was 2009. Probably mid-Octoberish, when the team was even with 3 wins and 3 losses, and someone here on the blog posted “what do we have to do, sacrifice a goat at the arch?”
In those days, my intermittent appearances on the blog were mainly to irritate Podunk, although she often cautioned me, lest someone on the blog, unaware of our sisterhood, attack me for pestering her. (For the record, no one EVER bothered me on the blog. Now, whether that was because she quietly let everyone know that I am her older sister, I’m not sure).
However, there was discussion, and the first ever Dawgsports annual Goat Roast was born. The inaugural Goat Roast was October 2, 2010. A group of us, including Podunk, gathered at the Blind Pig in their digs just off campus (the address eludes me, but I’m sure I could find it again if I had to). I was in charge of the cake, and I commissioned a red velvet cake in the shape of a goat, complete with frosting flames and pretzel logs just under it. The group was delightful. The game, less so. We sacrificed the (cake) goat at halftime, but the Dawgs still lost.
The final Goat Roast was in 2016, the year Jacob Eason was the starting QB. If my photo tag is to be believed, it was September 24, 2016, and we lost to Ole Miss. Coach Richt had been fired, and Kirby Smart was announced as the new head coach of the Dawgs.
One of the reasons the Goat Roast faded was that Podunk realized that the majority of the folks who attended were either fellow moderators of Dawg Sports, or personal friends/family of hers who came because she was in town. She decided that for the effort and expense, she’d rather visit when the Dawgs were playing at home and go to the game.
Thus, a new tradition was born. Beginning with the 2017 season, and ending with the 2020 season, Podunk would choose whichever game she deemed most likely to be the best home game of the season, and make travel plans. She flew in Thursday or Friday, and she and I would trek to Athens in time to see the game. We would return to my house after the game, where she would write the Victory Post (if we won), and we would visit until it was time for her to return home.
Her first game was the Notre Dame game. That was also the inauguration of the LED light system. It was a wild night, and a great game. She came back for the first weekend in December, when we played a rematch with Auburn, defeating them 28-7 to claim Coach Smart’s first SEC Championship. I still remember discussing bowl games with her – she (correctly) predicted we’d play in the Rose Bowl, with the National Championship Game to be held in Atlanta in January. We discussed finances, and arrangements, and as much as I have always wanted to see the Rose Parade in person, Podunk wanted to come back to Atlanta if the Dawgs got to play for the Natty.
It really came down to finances. We could afford either the Rose Bowl, or the Natty, but we couldn’t afford to do both. And in the end, she said “It might be the only time I get to see the boys play for the Natty in my life”. So we stayed home for New Year’s, and a couple of weeks after that, she and I were in Mercedes-Benz stadium, watching the Dawgs leave it all on the field. The only blemish of that night was the result.
Since 2017, CKS has led the Bulldogs to SEC Championship games in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. We lost in 2018 (AL), 2019 (LSU), 2021 (AL), and 2023 (AL). Podunk and I attended in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Mr. Squillian and I attended in 2021. I figured since the team was 1-4 in SECCG when I attended, that it must be me, and I have remained on my couch for this particular game ever since. While 3-2 isn’t quite the dominating record I want to see, it certainly beats paying the money & going to Atlanta to come home with an L.
Several people asked me before, during and after the game if I was going/had gone. Few people got this level of detail in my answer. Remember folks, I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious.
However, it is our intention to celebrate Georgia Bulldog Football Wins whenever and wherever they occur. The ugliness or beauty of any particular win is irrelevant for the purposes of the Winning Smart Victory Post. It is therefore my deepest honor and privilege to bring to you this week’s edition of: The Winning Smart Victory Post.
Coach Kirby Smart coached his 137th game this week for the Red & Black. He currently boasts a 117-20 record and a 0.8540 winning percentage, having carded his one hundred seventeenth win overall in the SEC Championship game of the 2025 season against the Alabama Crimson Tide.
At the identical juncture in their careers:
Vince Dooley’s 137th game as head coach resulted in a Georgia Bulldogs win over the Gamecocks Chickens of Sackerlina in the third game of the 1976 season, giving Coach Dooley a record of 91-41-5 and a 0.6825 percentage.
Coach Mark Richt was 101-36 (0.7372) after a win over Vanderbilt in the 7th game of the 2011 season.
One hundred and thirty seven games into his head coaching career Kirby Smart is sixteen games ahead of Coach Mark Richt and ahead of Coach Vince Dooley by 26 games. As of now, he is holding his own versus the two winningest coaches in Georgia Football History.
As always . . .
Go ‘Dawgs !!!!
