ATHENS — Georgia has become a near-unanimous No. 1 team once again and is heavily favored by 16 points in a road game at Mississippi State under the lights.

If you think that’s a dangerous scenario, Coach Kirby Smart would agree with you and his players are on the same page.

“They understand that humility is a week away,” Smart said in the aftermath of the Bulldogs’ dominant 27-13 win over Tennessee on Saturday, reminding his players that they will need to stay sharp with every team looking to pull a major upset.

“They’ve got to go to Starkville the next week, which is a tough game.”

The Maroon Bulldogs are coming off a 39-33 overtime win over an inspired Auburn team, beating the Tigers under the lights at Davis Wade Stadium.

It will be a different type of SEC environment than the Georgia players have encountered, from the rapid clanks of the cowbells to the dark starry night above amid the school’s rural setting.

The old SEC joke once told was that Starkville was not located at the end of the Earth, but you could see the end of the Earth from there.

Mississippi State has been as tough to figure as its eccentric head coach, Mike Leach.

“You could say we are tough and dumb,” Leach said, summing up the win over Auburn in an Al.com story. “We are tough, so that part is good. We have got to learn to enjoy prosperity a little more.

“How do you enjoy prosperity? You do all the stuff that got you there in the first place. All the little things,”

That’s a roundabout way of saying Mississippi State needs to have good practices this week to have any shot against Georgia.

Other SEC opening lines this week:

LSU -2 at Arkansas

South Carolina at Florida -9

Missouri at Tennessee -20

Vanderbilt at Kentucky -17

Texas A&M -2 at Auburn

Alabama -12 at Ole Miss