Paul Finebaum: Kirby Smart has 'embraced irreverence' to beat the SEC's 'hot new toy', Texas

Kirby Smart won his 100th SEC game as head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday and defeated No. 1 Texas 30-15 on the way.

Georgia's dominance over the last three and a half seasons has been well documented. However, after the defeat against Alabama Coming into this season, it's almost as if people have forgotten that the Bulldogs have won two straight national titles and only lost one regular season game in that span. Paul Finebaum admitted to doing the same thing, which he said further fueled Smart's fire on Saturday.

“Kirby Smart loved and embraced the disrespect,” Finebaum said on SportsCenter Sunday morning. “Every time you do that to a champion, someone great, they reach down. And I was sitting on set yesterday, just like others in Austin, and everyone was disrespecting Georgia. Why did we do it? Because Texas was the hot new toy. We all felt attracted to each other, we all rallied around Steve Sarkisian and (Quinn) Ewers and even Bow (Manning) and said: “They are the new champions.”

“And what had they really done? You took a very bad hit Oklahoma Team. You beat a very mediocre opponent Michigan team in the Big House, and we all just said, “Forget Georgia.” Forget what Kirby Smart has done over the last few years to build the best program in college football – and even with Nick Saban as coach last year. And that just drove Kirby Smart crazy. He used it and that’s exactly what happened last night.”

Georgia's loss to the Crimson Tide appeared to be a standout performance by Alabama under first-year head coach Kalen DeBoer. However, after the defeat against Vanderbilt The following week, Texas became the last team remaining undefeated in the SEC.

Buzz was naturally drawn to Austin, and even Vegas had the Longhorns at home as four-point favorites over the Bulldogs.

Many believed that a win over the Bulldogs would give Texas an edge over the others, which is why the win couldn't have come at a better time for Smart and his Bulldogs. That's the storyline that emerged and Georgia came in and reminded everyone that they are at the top of college football.

The path to an SEC Championship berth is much clearer after the win and with five games remaining in Georgia's regular season schedule, Kirby Smart's squad needs to be mentioned when it comes to the national championship favorites after Week 8.