georgia football uga kirby smart

ATHENS — Kirby Smart made it perfectly clear on Monday he expects Georgia to have a fight on its hands Saturday between the hedges.

“Make no mistake about it,” Smart said, “this is not the Arkansas that we played last year.”

Indeed, as Sam Pittman likes to say, and repeated again on Monday, “We’re the University of damn Arkansas.”

The No. 2-ranked Bulldogs (4-0) tackle Pittman’s Hogs (4-0) at noon (TV: ESPN) with College GameDay set up in the shadows of Sanford Stadium.

The Bulldogs won last year’s season opener over Arkansas in Fayetteville by a 37-10 count, but both teams have changed a great deal since then.

The Hogs have gotten bigger and stronger, and took advantage of the free year of eligibility with 12 “super seniors” among the 21 seniors on the roster.

Pittman convinced the players to buy in and play the extra year.

“Right now, he is a huge folk hero around here,” said Arkansas beat writer Thomas Murphy, who covers the Razorbacks for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

“This was a completely and wholly unexpected Top 10 matchup based on where the programs were to start the season,” he said, “but their wins over Texas and Texas A&M were not flukes.”

The Razorbacks upset then-No. 15 Texas in Week 2 by a 40-21 count, and then last Saturday, knocked off the then-No. 7 Aggies 20-10.

Georgia, meanwhile, is coming off a 62-0 win over Vanderbilt and is getting tight end Darnell Washington and defensive back Tykee Smith off the injured list this week.

Kirby Smart is 11-6 in Top 10 matchups, including the 10-3 win over then-No. 3 Clemson in the Bulldogs’ season-opening game in Charlotte, N.C.

Smart said there hasn’t been anything different about the preparation and focus for the marquee matchups.

“I don’t know, keep the main thing, the main thing — it’s a simple saying, but it’s really that simple,” Smart said. " I don’t think we lost some of those games because they were big games and they were distracted. It has a lot to do with the players on the field. That’s what this will come down to too.

“It won’t be about whether Game Day is here, or how many people are in the stands -- that may impact the crowd noise -- but at the end of the day, it’s the players on the field that have to play well,” Smart said. “I’m a lot more interested in the prep of that, then I am some secret factor.”