Kirby Smart Issues Challenge to Fans Ahead of Matchup with Tennessee

Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart has issued a challenge to the fans ahead of matchup with Tennessee.

Brooks Austin | Oct 31, 2022

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Georgia Bulldogs

There have been some massive football games played inside of Sanford Stadium since Kirby Smart took over the head coaching duties in December of 2015. They've hosted College Gameday multiple times, though none of the previous sellouts and insane environments will be anything like Saturday's matchup between the No. 1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs and the No. 2 ranked Tennessee Volunteers.

It's the first time in the history of Sanford Stadium that the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams have faced off, and Kirby Smart has issued a challenge to his fan base ahead of the matchup.

"Saturday we need Dawg Nation to affect the game !! If you can talk when you leave, you didn't yell enough !!"

Saturday we need Dawg Nation to affect the game !! If you can talk when you leave, you didn’t yell enough !!
— Coach Kirby Smart (@KirbySmartUGA) October 30, 2022

Tennessee hasn't played inside a packed-out Sanford Stadium since the fall of 2018. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the game in 2020 was with 20% crowd capacity. This will be the second road test for the Volunteers, they went to Baton Rouge in Week 5 and stomped out the Tigers. Though they will likely see a much more raucous crowd for four quarters on Saturday in what is expected to be a highly contested football game.

Smart's Bulldogs opened as 10.5 point favorites according to SIsportsbook, but have since dropped down to a 9.0 favorite, as low as 8.0 points already in some sportsbooks.

Tennessee's offense is one that predicates itself on speed and pace of play, so it will need to be a constant crowd noise type of situation that Kirby Smart is calling for. There won't be a lot of time where the Volunteer offense is on the field, they either score quickly or give it back quickly. Tennessee is currently No. 1 in yards per game, and 124th in time of possession.

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