Kirby Smart ‘not biting’ on Mark Stoops quip about buying players

It doesn’t take much to set off new rivalries in the ever-fierce SEC, and Kentucky coach Mark Stoops tossed out some red meat on Monday night on his weekly call-in show.

Following a loss to Georgia this weekend, Stoops quipped that the Bulldogs have “bought some pretty good players,” using that as a vehicle of sorts to ask Wildcats fans to step up their NIL donations.

Of course, there’s another reading of that line there that comes out something like sour grapes. Smart, for his part, wasn’t taking the bait, according to the Athens Banner-Herald.

“No reaction,” Smart said. “It’s much to do about nothing, really. Mark is trying to garner interest in money from his fan base for his collective. We’re all trying to do the same in terms of trying get money for our collective. Mark and I talked about NIL pregame and we talked about it in our meetings. I’m not biting on that.”

A pretty polite response, all things considered.

Of course, Georgia’s talking on the field on Saturday said plenty as well. The Bulldogs were dominant from start to finish in a 51-13 win.

The Bulldogs more than tripled the Wildcats’ offensive output, racking up 608 yards to the Wildcats’ 183. Carson Beck and the Georgia passing game managed to pile on 435 yards, with Beck throwing four touchdown passes and backup Brock Vandagriff throwing another.

It was the 14th straight win for Georgia in the annual meeting, so there really wasn’t a whole lot of need for Smart to entertain Stoops’ comments, and he passed them right by.

On3 will have more on this developing story shortly.

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