ATHENS — Kirby Smart and his Georgia football program know how to handle big-game environments like few other programs, but with each passing week history is working against them.
The No. 1-ranked Bulldogs are trying to go where no other modern era program has gone before them in working toward a three-peat, also riding a 25-game win streak that ranks as the second-longest by an SEC team in the CFP era and fourth-longest all-time.
Smart has brought his team this far with intense focus on each opponent, not looking too far ahead and seldom, if ever, looking back once in game week.
A Top 15 matchup in Sanford Stadium sits days away, a 14th-ranked, upset-minded Missouri team coming off a bye week heads to Athens intent on taking over the SEC East Division in the 3:30 p.m. CBS game on Saturday.
“We thought they were really good last year when we went to play them,” said Smart, whose team trailed Missouri by 10 points in the fourth quarter before rallying for a 26-22 win.
That proved to be true, and they’ve gotten better.”
The Tigers are 7-1 overall and 3-1 in league play, their sole blemish a 49-39 shootout loss to LSU on Oct. 7.
Smart is particularly impressed with Missouri’s dual-threat quarterback, junior Brady Cook.
“Their quarterback is very experienced, which is the number one quality you look for,” Smart said. “How many games has be played in, what experience has he had, has he played on the road in our conference?
“He’s done all those things and he’s done them really well. They’re using him, his legs and his ability to run really well.”
Indeed, Cook passed for a touchdown and rushed for a touchdown in Missouri’s 38-21 road win at Kentucky in a game that saw the Tigers score the final 18 points in the fourth quarter.
Georgia beat the then-No. 20 Wildcats in Sanford Stadium earlier this season for their only win over a ranked opponent.
Saturday’s big game will mark the fifth time two teams ranked in the Top 15 have met in Sanford Stadium in the past five seasons.
That streak of Top 15 teams playing dates back to Georgia’s thrilling 23-17 win over No. 7 Notre Dame in 2019, when then-No. 3-ranked UGA had its state-of-the-art L.E.D. lighting make its debut at Sanford Stadium.
Georgia has also won nine straight games over Top 25 teams in Sanford Stadium dating back to a 34-31 Hail Mary loss to Tennessee in 2016, which remains the only game Smart has lost when the Bulldogs score 30 points or more.
The Bulldogs home win streak of 23 games dates back to a loss in 2019 to a South Carolina team that, like Missouri, was coming off a bye week.
Sanford Stadium Top 15 teams meeting
(Under Kirby Smart)
2023
No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 14 Missouri
No. 1 Georgia 51, No. 20 Kentucky 13
2022
No. 1 Georgia 27, No. 2 Tennessee 13
2021
No. 2 Georgia 37, No. 8 Arkansas 0
2020
No. 4 Georgia 27, No. 7 Auburn 6
No. 3 Georgia 44, No. 14 Tennessee 21
2019
No. 3 Georgia 23, No. 7 Notre Dame 17
2018
No. 5 Georgia 27, No. 24 Auburn 10
2017
No. 11 Georgia 31, No. 17 Mississippi State 3
2016
Georgia 13, No. 9 Auburn 7
No. 11 Tennessee 34, No. 25 Georgia 31
