The Georgia Bulldogs are about the kick off their SEC gauntlet against the Arkansas Razorbacks.
The Georgia Bulldogs are headed into the first real test of the season after handling both Tennessee State and Western Kentucky by a combined 110 points. By SEC standards though, starting with the Arkansas Razorbacks is certainly a light test.
Arkansas is off to an awful start to the Ryan Silverfield era, looking sluggish against North Alabama in week one before getting absolutely smoked by Utah in week two on the road. This has led to many making the natural conclusion that Georgia is going to eat the Razorbacks for lunch on Saturday afternoon in Fayetteville.
With that being said, nobody knows better than Kirby Smart how hard it is to win in this league, and using the media as a tool, he sent a very direct warning shot to his team on why they should not be complacent headed into Arkansas.
Kirby Smart on Perceived Easy SEC Game: 'Humility is a Week Away'
"Playing on the road in the SEC, humility is always a week away," Smart said on Monday. "It's a tough environment regardless of where you play in the SEC, there are no bad environments in the SEC, there are only raucous environments in the SEC....this is a challenging time to go on the road especially with a group that hasn't really been on the road."
If you injected him with truth serum, Smart probably knows that he has a far superior team than an Arkansas program which is currently in some of its darkest days in the last several decades. With that being said, things in this league and around the country have never been a more level playing field than they are right now, and in this league, anyone truly can beat anyone.
In a way, it's actually a more significant challenge for Georgia to start its road schedule with a game like this early in the day against a bad team rather than against a great team that they would have no problem getting up for.
Kirby Smart has to have his team mentally ready to go in a game that while far from a guaranteed win is certainly against an opponent the Bulldogs would be capable of overlooking.
This is his greatest hurdle to clear as a head coach of an elite program, and while he is as good at anyone at keeping his team motivated, it gets more and more difficult every year with the changing times in the sport.
Time will tell if the Dawgs can pass their first real test this weekend in Fayetteville.
