Kirby Smart isn’t caught up in Georgia’s gaudy offensive numbers as much as he’s eager to get dialed in for the Bulldogs’ first road trip of the season.
Georgia plays its SEC opener at Arkansas at noon Saturday, and Smart won’t be taking anything for granted, even after the Razorbacks were blown out at No. 20 Utah late Saturday night.
Arkansas coach Ryan Silverfield said his team is upset about the loss.
“Clearly not good enough in all three phases of the game,” Silverfield said, per SI.com.
“Guys in the locker room were frustrated. … They’re angry, and I said … those are the feelings you’re supposed to have. We have to find a way to quickly learn from this game and bounce back.”
Arkansas opened its season with a 31-14 win over Football Championship Subdivision school North Alabama, but its trip to Salt Lake City to play the Utes did not produce a similar result.
Utah barbecued the Razorbacks on the ground, outrushing them 141-61 yards and jumping out to a 29-3 halftime lead and 43-3 advantage before Arkansas scored with 6:43 left after Ismael Cisse caught a tipped pass for a score.
Smart, in his 11th year as UGA’s coach, delivered a stern message in the aftermath of the Bulldogs’ 70-20 win over Western Kentucky.
“We don’t want to anoint anybody right now because they recover fumbles or catch touchdowns,” said Smart, who put his team’s success Saturday in perspective, noting it came against the Conference USA’s Hilltoppers and not an SEC team. “When you score 70, you’re gonna have a lot of fluffy stats.
“I don’t care about stats. I really do not care. … You guys will reward them, you will say we scored 70 and 60, and the only thing I’m worried about is how the hell we’re gonna play on the road next week.”
Smart said, “It’s on to the SEC now, and it’s just a different league; you play this league on the road, and over the years that I have and coached, it’s a different environment. Every game is really hard — especially on the road, especially the first one.”
The SEC is indeed off to a strong start, enjoying an undefeated opening week for the first time since 1997, and then following that up with a Week 2 that saw No. 4 Texas triumph over No. 1 Ohio State with a 24-23 victory and Mississippi State travel to Minnesota and hand the Big Ten’s Golden Gophers a 38-13 defeat.
Oklahoma, UGA’s opponent in two weeks, suffered a 17-10 loss at Michigan.
While Arkansas is an SEC member, it might be the worst team in the league.
The Razorbacks have 81 new players on Silverfield’s roster and has lost 11 consecutive SEC games dating back to a 58-25 win over Mississippi State in the 2024 season.
Silverfield, the Memphis coach in 2025, upset Georgia fans when he remarked about the Bulldogs’ off-field issues, noting how his program held Sunday meetings to hold players accountable for on- and off-field performances.
Per Silverfield’s now infamous radio appearance, his Memphis program had sessions that began with what he referred to as “not our standard” errors.
“We always start with a negative,” Silverfield said, per CBS Sports. “And the ‘not our standard’ is, ‘Georgia wide receiver arrested for driving 900 mph over the speed limit.’ That’s a weekly occurrence. …”
Silverfield, who took the Arkansas job after last season, was asked about his comments pertaining to Georgia and emphasized his respect for Smart.
“I’ve got the deepmost respect for Kirby Smart and the Georgia athletic department and everything that he’s about,” Silverfield said in July. “Obviously, he’s done it at a high level, so certainly a lot of respect for him. When it occurred, I reached out to him. He’s always been great to me. Even at my time at Memphis, he allowed us to come be a part of the camps.
“I think he knew that it was no ill will. Listen, I’ve got a lot or respect for him and what they’re doing.”
The Georgia coach wants his team to play to its potential regardless of the opponent.
Smart stated at halftime of win over Western Kentucky, while leading 49-6 that, “We have to play to our standard. It’s not about the scoreboard. It’s not about who we’re playing. It’s all about what we do.”
Georgia beat Arkansas 37-0 the most recent time the teams met, in 2021, and won the most recent time they traveled to Fayetteville in the opening game of the Covid-shortened season of 2020 by a 37-10 count.
The Bulldogs are 5-0 all-time in Razorback Stadium, and 6-0 all-time when the teams meet in the state of Arkansas, also winning in Little Rock in 2014.
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