Some wondered how Georgia would handle the No. 1 ranking this past week, heading into a tough environment in South Carolina.

The Bulldogs emphatically answered any and all questions with their 48-7 road win over South Carolina. The performance made sure Georgia stayed at the No. 1 spot in this week’s AP Poll.

Georgia picked up 59 of the 63 first-place votes. Alabama still sits at No. 2 after a 63-7 win over UL-Monroe. Ohio State is at No. 3, Michigan comes in at No. 4 and Clemson rounds out things out at No. 5. The Bulldogs also moved up to No. 1 in the Coaches Poll this week.

Related: Georgia football tops Alabama in Week 4 Coaches Poll, sits at No. 1

The Georgia program lost 15 players to the NFL draft and another dozen players to the transfer portal and it hasn’t seemed to matter. The Bulldogs have won their first three games by a combined score of 130-10.

It speaks to the culture and stability that Smart has in place at Georgia. The head coach credits the players, past and present, for that success.

“They’ve kind of bought into ‘this is who we are, this is how we’re going to do things.’ It’s just kind of the way we do them,” Smart said. “They sell that to each other. They sell it to the younger players so that we don’t have to. If you do that you can get better but please don’t mistake that for thinking that we have the best practices in the world. We have not always had the best practices in the world, our kids believe in practice paying off for the game though.”

Georgia will see tougher foes than South Carolina based on the current polls, with No. 20 Florida, No. 12 Tennessee and No. 8 Kentucky all winning on Saturday. Florida and Tennessee will play each other this week, while Georgia also saw the No. 15 Oregon Ducks pick up a big win over BYU.

The Bulldogs return home to Sanford Stadium this week and will welcome Kent State. The Golden Flashes played Oklahoma earlier this season, losing 33-3. The game is set for a 12 p.m. ET start.

You can see the full Week 4 AP Poll Top 25 rankings.

Georgia football AP Poll Top 25 rankings

  1. Georgia
  2. Alabama
  3. Ohio State
  4. Michigan
  5. Clemson
  6. Oklahoma
  7. USC
  8. Kentucky
  9. Oklahoma State
  10. Arkansas
  11. Tennessee
  12. NC State
  13. Utah
  14. Penn State
  15. Oregon
  16. Ole Miss
  17. Baylor
  18. Washington
  19. BYU
  20. Florida
  21. Wake Forest
  22. Texas
  23. Texas A&M
  24. Pitt
  25. Miami

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