{"id":300923,"date":"2025-10-13T21:32:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T21:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/300923\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T21:32:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T21:32:09","slug":"kirby-smart-challenges-georgia-fans-to-provide-best-atmosphere-weve-ever-had-in-sanford-stadium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/300923\/","title":{"rendered":"Kirby Smart challenges Georgia fans to provide \u2018best atmosphere we\u2019ve ever had in Sanford Stadium.\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATHENS \u2014Kirby Smart acknowledged he\u2019s going to need Georgia\u2019s fans on Saturday if he\u2019s to beat No. 5 Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin.<\/a> <\/p>\n

The Georgia coach used part of his opening statement to acknowledge the Georgia fans who made the trip to Auburn this past weekend. He felt their noise had an impact on Auburn\u2019s ability to execute. <\/p>\n

He wants much more of that this Saturday when the Bulldogs should have a significant homefield advantage. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need the best atmosphere we\u2019ve ever had in Sanford Stadium,\u201d Smart said.<\/p>\n

After challenging his own fans, Smart went right into praising Kiffin. The two worked together on Nick Sabana\u2019s Alabama staff in 2014 and 2015. <\/p>\n

Smart and Georgia won the first matchup between the two coaches in 2023. Ole Miss returned the favor last season, upsetting Georgia in Oxford, Mississippi. <\/p>\n

The home team has won the first two meetings between the two coaches with the most SEC wins since the start of the 2021 season.<\/p>\n

While Smart\u2019s prowess comes on the defensive side of the ball, Kiffin is highly thought of because of his work with quarterbacks. <\/p>\n

\u201cHis having impact on the quarterback and the offensive play and the ability to communicate with the quarterback, whether it\u2019s by headset or by sideline, he does a great job of getting the quarterback\u2019s attention and getting them in the right plays based on looks,\u201d Smart said. \u201cProbably better than anybody else in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Austin Simmons was thought to be the guy for Ole Miss to start the season, but an ankle injury has sidelined him for the last five games. Simmons came off the bench last year when Jaxson Dart was injured to lead an Ole Miss touchdown drive against Georgia. <\/p>\n

Trindad Chambliss has taken over for Simmons<\/a>, pushing the Ole Miss offense to wins over Tulane, Arkansas and LSU. Saturday would be the first road start for Chambliss, who has accounted for 1,567 passing and rushing yards to go along with 10 combined touchdowns. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe does an unbelievable job, and we need to make that extremely difficult,\u201d Smart said. \u201cSo the issue and the challenge has been issued for our fan base to be extremely difficult for them to communicate and do things offensively that they do, especially at home and sometimes on the road when it\u2019s not the right environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Georgia is 2-0 on the road this season, weathering a tough start against Auburn this past week to win 20-10. <\/a>The Bulldogs saw their 33-game home winning streak snapped earlier this year with a home loss to Alabama. <\/p>\n

There was some talk about last year\u2019s Ole Miss game at the Monday press conference, especially as Ole Miss fans stormed the field after the game. Ole Miss was fined for the action but gladly paid it for the memory. <\/p>\n

From the Georgia perspective, that game doesn\u2019t seem to linger. Perhaps because it was such a forgettable performance for Georgia \u2014 the 18-point loss was the biggest margin of defeat for Georgia since a 2019 loss to LSU \u2014 but more so because these teams are so different. <\/p>\n

Dart is now the starting quarterback for the New York Giants, while Georgia starter Carson Beck is now the starting quarterback for the Miami Hurricanes. <\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, this is a whole new year,\u201d Georgia\u2019s current quarterback Gunner Stockton said. \u201cWe\u2019re definitely excited for Ole Miss, and it\u2019ll be a great environment, great SEC game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smart expects something similar on Saturday. He hopes both his fans and players answer the call. <\/p>\n

\u201cNot a big revenge guy,\u201d Smart said. \u201cThey coulda said that last year about us because they came here and played the year before. I\u2019m big into what gets us to play our best, and that usually comes from intrinsic stuff for me, not looking in the past. Those teams were different teams. This team\u2019s a different team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s game will be set for a 3:30 p.m. ET start time. It will be the first time Georgia hosts a team ranked in the top 5 of the AP Poll since the 2022 game against the Tennessee Volunteers. <\/p>\n

Kirby Smart challenges Georgia football fans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATHENS \u2014Kirby Smart acknowledged he\u2019s going to need Georgia\u2019s fans on Saturday if he\u2019s to beat No. 5…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":300924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[12955,1318,24286,1317,1315,1316,62,5540,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-300923","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-alabama","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-georgia-football","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-football","13":"tag-ncaafootball","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uga","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115369000515587434","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}