Georgia gets ready for first night kickoff of the season at Missouri
It may not be in Athens, but Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs are locked in for their first night game of the season tonight at Missouri. With potential obstacles and an engaged crowd behind the opponent, the Bulldogs had mixed feelings this week about their contest at Faurot Field.
The matchup against the Tigers in Colombia will be the Bulldogs’ second road game of the season. The first also came in a Columbia – South Carolina that is though – and resulted in a 48-7 victory Week 3. While the Bulldogs know what to expect from the Tigers, Smart thinks that the biggest challenge will be playing at a different time.
“I mean to me, every game is important in terms of circling the wagons and playing well,” Smart explained. “It doesn’t matter if it’s home or away. I mean we travel away, but I think it’d be at 7:30. The biggest difference for us is going to be the amount of time there is leading up to the game. We’ve had two of these ‘wake up, eat, and go play’ and this is the reverse of that. So you gotta work off a different kind of mindset and approach to it but home or away, you play in the SEC you got to play really well.”
So far this season, the Bulldogs have played in a 3:30 game, a 4:00 game, and two noon kickoffs. Obviously the later kickoff gives the fans attending the game more time to tailgate and get themselves ready for a fun night. Georgia offensive lineman Tate Ratledge spoke about that opportunity to play in front of a night crowd, even though it’ll be in enemy territory.
“I think everybody is really excited for it,” Ratledge said. “We haven’t had one yet, it’s been a while. So night games are a big deal for everybody, even the fans for the other team, our fans, our players. So it’s a great environment to go into and go play.”
Earlier this week, cornerback Kelee Ringo also shared how excited he was for the challenge of facing the Tigers’ crowd and the challenges that they will present.
“Honestly, with the energy, it’s gonna be a tough stadium,” Ringo said. “Any game, honestly, any place in the (SEC) East, at night, middle of the day, or early in the morning, it’s a tough place to play. I feel like it’s going to be a good atmosphere and a good energy.”
Stetson Bennett’s ability to communicate with the rest of the Georgia offense can be especially difficult during night games. Heading into this Saturday’s game in Colombia, Ratledge explained how this was a point of emphasis in the Bulldogs’ preparation this week.
“Noise is always a big speed bump there, but we work on it every day,” Ratledge said. “We’re in our indoor and they’re blaring crowd music. I still haven’t heard a stadium louder than that. So, we feel like if we’re comfortable doing it in that, then we can do it anywhere.”
While the energy in the stadium and the time of day may be slightly different for the Bulldogs, they’re treating this game just like any other that they’ve played this season.
“It’s still the same pregame,” Georgia right tackle Warren McClendon said. “We have pregame meals at the same time, I can’t remember how much time but we have the same amount of time before the game. So just being able to wake up, get your body moving, it’s not too bad.”
