Kirby Smart puts Clemson radio host on blast after beatdown of Dabo Swinney’s team

Kirby Smart had some motivation prior to Georgia's absolute beatdown of Clemson on Saturday, it would appear. While I wouldn't have pegged Smart as a sports radio fan -- especially considering Nick Saban's approach to 'rat poison' -- the Georgia coach called out some of the Clemson-friendly media coverage from the previous week.

“What you know on the inside is a lot more than what people can paint pictures in the outside,” Smart said after the game, per DawgNation. “People use it in negative recruiting and then throw it out there. It comes back to bite them, too.”

Negative recruiting, specifically, is often used by coaches of certain programs to make a case against others. It's frowned upon in the world of college recruiting because it takes the focus away from the prospect themselves and, perhaps most importantly, the program. Rather than selling their own program, some Clemson fans point to Georgia's graduation rate, depth chart competition and more as negatives. Suffice to say, it hasn't worked so far.

Kirby Smart had a reason to be upset with Clemson media

Clemson director of broadcasting and play-by-play voice Don Munson had some pointed comments about Georgia and Smart in late August. This, one would think, is what Smart was talking about.

“There’s life after football. [Dabo Swinney] goes about doing it right,” Munson said.“There are other schools that, you know, haven’t gotten on board with that to be perfectly frank. And one of them, unfortunately, is in Athens. Their graduation rate was at 41% ... 41%! I will keep on saying this. That’s an embarrassment. That’s an embarrassment to the folks in Athens. That’s an embarrassment to the university. That’s an embarrassment to the program. They need to do better than that.”

Georgia's program is far from an embarrassment, on or off the field. And frankly, neither of these schools is Harvard. A degree from Georgia means about as much as a degree from Clemson or even my alma mater. It's all about what you do with that piece of paper once you earn it.

How can Clemson make up ground on Georgia in recruiting?

On the field, Georgia outgained Clemson by nearly 300 yards, and outscored the Tigers 28-3 in the second half. Some pundits thought the Tigers could hang with the Bulldogs, with even a narrow defeat proving to the College Football Playoff committee that Clemson belongs. Instead...they have a lot of mental ground to make up. It's only Week 1, after all.

Clemson and Georgia are separated by just under 1.5 hours. They are competing for the same recruits, and it can get feisty at times. That is to be expected.

If the Tigers hope to make up 31 points worth of ground on Georgia, Dabo Swinney should try using the transfer portal for the first time in his coaching career. I hear it's great!