Kirby Smart explains how Georgia prepares mentally for top-10 matchup

Kirby Smart, midway through his sixth season as the Georgia Bulldogs head coach, has had some semblance of success against AP top-10 opponents since his arrival in Athens.

Georgia is 11-6 against top-10 teams under Smart, with the most recent coming in Week 1 against Clemson — a game that, as it later became clear, may have been more of a statement of Clemson’s deficiencies than Georgia’s prowess.

Nevertheless, Georgia, the No. 2 team in the country, has another top-10 matchup in its tracks. Smart and the Bulldogs play host to 4-0 Arkansas on Saturday, a game that very few expected to be such a high-profile matchup until the Razorbacks soared to a No. 8 ranking.

As Georgia prepares to face Sam Pittman, the current Arkansas head coach and former Georgia offensive line coach, Smart wants his Bulldogs to not overlook the visiting Razorbacks.

“Keep the main thing the main thing,” Smart said on Monday, when asked how he keeps his team focused with a top-10 matchup quickly approaching. “It’s a simple saying, but it’s really that simple. I don’t think we lost some of those games because they were big games and they were distracted.

“I think it has a lot to do with the players on the field, and that’s what this will come down to, too.”

Three of Smart’s top-10 losses since arriving at Georgia were against the mighty Alabama Crimson Tide. Georgia has only played Arkansas once in Smart’s tenure, and the Bulldogs cruised to an easy 37-10 victory in Week 1 last season. But this is a different Arkansas team, and Smart recognizes that — that’s why he knows it will come down to the players on the field, rather than any confounding factors.

“It won’t be about whether [ESPN’s College Gameday] is here, or how many people are in the stands,” Smart explained. “That may impact the crowd noise, but that’s not [it]. At the end of the day, the players on the field have to play well, and I’m a lot more interested in the prep of that than I am some secret factor.”

Georgia in Week 1 managed to score just 10 points against a Clemson team that was ranked in the top-10, but Smart’s defense smothered the Tigers and allowed just one field goal all game. Since then, the Bulldogs offense has improved, putting up 56, 40 and 62 points, but against UAB, South Carolina and Vanderbilt, respectively, it seems fair to question the validity of Georgia’s breakout.

It’s only a matter of time before Smart is put to the test against his former assistant, Pittman, and the Arkansas Razorbacks. If Georgia can turn in Smart’s 12th top-10 victory in his tenure, the Bulldogs are one step closer to punching a postseason ticket.