The Winning Smart Victory Post: The Natty Edition Part Deux

Jan 11, 2023 - 12:23 AM

Some of you may remember that my day job is teaching a high school math class called Statistical Reasoning. When I speak to parents, I tend to call it “Stat light”. The class is intended to give high school students a brief overview of how to calculate statistics, how to interpret statistics and how to recognize how others use statistics.

Some statistics that have been thrown around in the past 48 hours:

· The odds that TCU would win a national championship this season opened at +23000

· The odds that UGA would win a national championship this season opened at +380 (just behind Alabama and Ohio State)

· UGA is only the 4^th program to win back-to-back national championships since 1990, and the only program to do it in the CFB Playoff era

· No program has won three national championships in a row since college football has started naming national champions (1936)

You watched the Peach Bowl. I did too. We didn’t expect that to be as close as it was. Perhaps we should be forgiven for not expecting last night’s game to be as wide as it was.

More stats from last night:

· Stetson Bennett’s QB rating: 226.9

· Carson Beck’s QB rating: 153.5

· Max Duggan’s QB rating: 103.5

Georgia went from the smallest margin of victory in a bowl game (+1, Peach Bowl) to the largest margin of victory in a bowl game (+58, CFB National Championship)

The last time Georgia played TCU, it was at the Liberty Bowl in December 2016. Podunk and I had hoodies made for the occasion. I decided that I would wear that hoodie over the shirt we had made for the UGA/Notre Dame game in 2017. I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious.

I had intended to take a nap after school and before the game began. While I did lay down and close my eyes, I don’t think I slept at all. By kickoff, my heart rate was rather high and I was incredibly nervous. I knew we had the talent, but I grew up believing fairytales could come true, and I worried that TCU would get the fairytale victory at our expense. I didn’t really settle down until we had scored more than 30 points (some time in the 2^nd quarter). After that, I just enjoyed. I didn’t go to bed until the game was over, despite the fact that we had the game well in hand. I just didn’t want to miss a thing.

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 96^th game tonight for the Red & Black. He currently boasts an 81-15 record and a 0.8438 winning percentage, having carded his eighty-first win overall in the National Championship game against the Horned Frogs of Texas Christian University.

At the identical juncture in their careers:

Vince Dooley’s 96^th game as head coach resulted in a Georgia Bulldogs win over Florida in the ninth game of the 1972 season, giving Coach Dooley a record of 66-26-4 and 0.7083 percentage.

Coach Mark Richt was 77-19 (0.8021) after a win over Arizona State in the fourth game of the 2008 season.

Ninety-six games into his head coaching career Kirby Smart is four games ahead of Coach Mark Richt and ahead of Coach Vince Dooley by 15 games. As of now, he is holding his own versus the two winningest coaches in Georgia Football History.

As always . . .

Go ‘Dawgs !!!!