ATHENS — Georgia has played in plenty of big games this season. Saturday will be the fifth time Georgia has played against a team ranked in the top 25.
But when the Bulldogs face No. 7 Tennessee, it’ll be the first time Georgia does so at home. And the Bulldogs are counting on an electric atmosphere to make life difficult for the Volunteers.
“I just think a home game in general, the SEC, is hell on the road team,” Smart said. “I think it’s really hard, man. It’s hard. And I tell people all the time.”
Georgia has the longest home winning streak in the country, having last lost at home in 2019 against South Carolina.
Members of this Tennessee team should know well just how difficult winning in Sanford Stadium could be. The last time Tennessee came to Athens, it did so with the No. 1 ranking in the College Football Playoff rankings.
It left Athens with a 27-13 loss.
“So last time I was there, I was there as a recruit,” tight end Lawson Luckie said. “And it was just, I remember it was so loud. I remember when it was raining, I feel like the team got better. You know what I mean? I feel like it was so loud. It was electric. That was the best home atmosphere I’ve ever seen. So I thought it was amazing last time.”
Georgia had its own issues on the road last week with the rain, as the Bulldogs lost 28-10 to Ole Miss in Oxford.
This will be Georgia’s first home game in over a month, with Georgia last playing inside the friendly confines on Oct. 12 against Mississippi State.
Conversely, this will be Tennessee’s first road game since Oct. 5. The Volunteers played four straight SEC home games in Neyland Stadium.
But the last time they left home, it went to Arkansas and lost 19-14.
Georgia and Tennessee are far from the only teams to have imbalanced home and road schedules. With the SEC expanding to 16 teams, the league re-did the scheduling to accommodate new members Texas and Oklahoma.
It’s something Smart has thought about of late.
“There’s not a reason why it has to be that way. I know in our case it’s the Georgia-Florida game,” Smart said. “That impacts every other year you can. Every year for us, but every other year, it would have been in our backyard. So it makes you have to leave home and go, and that’s always been one of the tough things. At the end of the day, you’re traveling more and you’re getting back later, especially these TV times, and that can impact your recovery time and what you do on Sundays. But in a perfect world, you wouldn’t go that long.”
Georgia will finish out the regular season in Athens, as its final three games all come at home. Saturday will double as Georgia’s last SEC game of the season. The Bulldogs will finally get to play a home night game, their first of the season.
The Bulldogs are counting on fans — who have pushed for a blackout that Georgia players seem to respond to — to make a difference against Tennessee on Saturday.
They hope the wait over the past month will have been worth it.
“It’s great to be back home. The night game, the atmosphere is electric,” Luckie said. “I mean, it’s not the best waiting around all day in the hotel. But when you get out there, it’s worth it. It gets the fans extra riled up.”
