Georgia coach Kirby Smart rips Jake Pope for celebrating Ole Miss fans after loss: ‘What an idiot’

On By Littum

Georgia coach Kirby Smart ripped Bulldogs backup safety Jake Pope on Monday after he appeared to celebrate with a group of Ole Miss fans following the Rebels’ 28-10 victory this past weekend.

Pope was seen on the field bouncing around with fans at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Mississippi on Saturday after the Rebels’ huge upset win over the Bulldogs. While it turned out that Pope was indeed celebrating with his old friends from high school that he hadn’t seen in a while, the optics certainly weren’t great.

“What an idiot. I mean, just stupid,” Smart said Monday. via ESPN. “I didn’t see it until today but he’s embarrassed about it. He’s upset. Apparently it’s his childhood friend that he grew up playing with there at Buford and he knows him, hadn’t seen him in ages , but just not really smart.

“To be honest with you, I don’t have time to waste energy on that. My focus is on Tennessee. I’m not worried about that.”

Pope transferred to Georgia this season after spending his first two years at Alabama. He has appeared in three games for the Bulldogs this season.

Pope apologized in a statement on social media on Monday.

“This is not representative of who I am in any way,” Pope said in part in the statement. “In no way, shape, or form would I ever celebrate a loss in this program, and anyone who knows me well knows that. My longtime family friends came up to me unexpectedly after the game as I was trying to get off the field. i security and were very excited to see me after the game.

“I was surprised to see them too and that’s why you saw the reaction I gave via the video … I’m Georgia through thick and thin and have never loved a group of guys more than the guys I go to fight with day in and day out.”

Georgia, now 7-2 on the season, fell nine spots in the latest AP poll to No. 11 after the loss to Ole Miss. The Bulldogs will host the no. 6 at Tennessee on Saturday in a game that could very well keep the loser out of the College Football Playoff this season. The Volunteers enter this contest with an 8-1 record. Their only loss was at Arkansas in October.