Kirby Smart brought this on himself, by his own admission. After Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin trolled him on Father's Day earlier this summer with a Nick Saban-inspired photo, the Georgia coach says he did not take the playful remark personally since it was pre-screened before it went public.

Heading into the 2021 season, Saban is a perfect 24-0 all-time against previous staffers-turned-head coaches and he'll have an opportunity to add to that record this season.

“Well, I’ll give Lane this — he didn’t post that unwarranted,” Smart said recently on SEC Network's Marty and McGee. “We have a legendary side thread that goes on between Lane and I, so he sent that on the side thread long before he posted it on Twitter. I know he does it for reaction and for entertainment.

“We spent several years together there at Alabama, and that’s another one of his ways of taking a shot back at me. He used to get whoopings when we were there. I didn’t get the same whippings he got, so he’s trying to get his jabs back.”