Agree with this. UGA fans have been looking at a lot of conference programs over the years that they have recruited comparatively with, but who have realized much more success than they have. Most SEC fans think that Florida was never a powerhouse recruiting program under Spurrier, where they consistently pulled #1 classes every cycle. But they DID pull a number of #1 classes under Spurrier just the same, and regularly pulled top 10 national classes most cycles. This was when the prep FB talent in FL blew up in the 80s and into the 90s, so it was hard for a FL program to not pull that kind of talent.
And UF under Spurrier started winning SEC titles regularly, played in 2 MNC games, winning one of them. And owned UGA while he was there, too. UGA wasn't doing much worse in recruiting than UF was, but wanted more to stay competitive against their rivals. In comes Richt: he doesn't do much better against UF than his predecessors, but he does win two SEC titles, thanks in large part to Spurrier leaving for the NFL, and Fulmer's Tennessee fading after his/their 1998 MNC.
But then during the Richt Era at UGA, Florida returns to prominence under Urban Meyer, who wins 2 MNC titles. LSU, Alabama, and Auburn all rise up as well with titles of their own plus multiple appearances. The prep talent in the state of GA was rising with every year, until it took GA among the giants of CA, TX, and FL. And Richt's UGA regularly brought in top 10 classes - much like how Spurrier did at UF. But the best Richt could do was win two SEC conference titles, the last one in 2005, and three BCS bowls, the last one in 2007. 2007 was essentially the end of the best and most consistent years at UGA under Richt - he coached there until 2016. So the fans felt that he had gotten fat and complacent.
UGA's recruiting class rankings since 2005 have not been at Alabama's level, but they were most definitely very similar to Florida's, LSU's, and Auburn's levels, if not slightly better than Auburn's. During that time span, Florida has 6 division titles, 2 SECCG titles in 4 appearances, 2 BCS bowl appearances with one win, and 2 MNC championships. LSU has 3 division titles, 2 SECCG titles in 3 appearances, 2 BCS appearances winning both, and 2 MNC appearances with one championship. Auburn has 4 division titles, 2 SECCG titles in 3 appearances, 2 BCS bowl appearances, and 2 MNC appearances with one championship.
UGA has 6 division titles, 2 SECCG titles in 5 appearances, 4 BCS bowl appearances with 2 wins (1 appearance - a win - was Round 1 of the 2017 CFP), and one CFP appearance where UGA was a finalist. The big difference between all the above 4 SEC programs is that the first 3 all have national championship trophies, and UGA does not, and the Bulldog fans are gnashing their teeth.......
Also agree with your comparison between Muschamp and Smart, and USC and UGA. Smart was really an opportunist in his first job as a Head Coach - he passed over several lesser opportunities as DC under Saban at Alabama. Under Richt in his final 2 years at UGA, the Bulldog program pulled in the 6th and 8th ranked classes for 2014 & 2015, and those teams each won 10 games those seasons. Muschamp took over a Gamecock program that pulled classes closer to the 20's than the 10's in ranking, and went 10-15 the final 2 seasons under Spurrier. Plus, while Smart took over the top GA program in a state that's rich in prep talent - when GA Tech ran an unorthodox offense that called for "special" talent skill-sets - Muschamp took over a SC program that was sharing a state that had a small population with a Clemson program entering the golden era of its entire history....
