Ranking the five best college football coaches after Nick Saban's retirement

1) Kirby Smart, Georgia

It's only fitting that the coach that takes the torch from Saban as the best in the game is also the biggest branch in the Saban coaching tree. Under Kirby Smart, Georgia, which for years was good but not great under Mark Richt, has become an all-conquering powerhouse.

The Bulldogs won their second consecutive national title last year, and were undefeated and ranked #1 this year before falling to Alabama in the SEC Championship, an unfortunate result that kept them from the College Football Playoff even though most everyone agreed that they were one of the best four teams in the country. Don't tell me that Smart wasn't trying to make a statement in Georgia's 63-3 annihilation of Florida State in the Orange Bowl.

Smart has been at Georgia for eight years, and in that span he's posted top-five AP poll finishes five times. Take away the 8-5 record in his debut season, and his winning percentage is .886. In the past three years, Georgia's record is an otherworldly 42-2, and both of those losses were to Saban and Alabama. Now that Saban has retired, it's like Georgia has collected the final Infinity Gem. Who can stop them now?