Kirby Smart Refuses Gatorade Bath After Winning the Orange Bowl

A celebratory dumping of a Gatorade cooler onto the winning coach is a standard celebration within college football. 

Throughout this year’s bowl season, we’ve seen French fries, Cheez-Its, Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes and, arguable the grossest of them all, mayonnaise poured on coaches after winning their respective bowls. And, instead of food, others received the common Gatorade shower. 

As Georgia breezed past Michigan in the Capital One Orange Bowl, one could assume coach Kirby Smart would not be doused in oranges, but players did prepare for the celebratory energy drink shower. 

That is until Smart put a hard stop to it. 

“That's not what it's about right now, you know what I mean?” Smart told ESPN's Holly Rowe in a postgame interview. “I am so happy for these kids. They worked their tail off, answered a million questions about our team ... and how we can play.”

The Bulldogs waltzed past the Wolverines, 34–11, on Friday night as quarterback Stetson Bennett threw for 310 yards and three touchdowns. Georgia will face Alabama in an all-SEC national title match after the Crimson Tide rolled past Cincinnati, 27–6, earlier in the evening. It’s a rematch of the SEC championship, which Alabama overwhelmingly won after 2021 Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young threw for 421 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for a single score.

It’s unclear whether Smart already had his sights set on the Tide, or simply wanted to avoid the sticky mess of sports drink. Either way, you can bet he won’t be able to avoid the dunking if the Bulldogs pull off a win in the national championship game.