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Georgia turning the page to Austin Peay, focused inward

Jeremy Johnsonby: Jeremy Johnson09/03/25JeremyO_Johnson
Georgia HC Kirby Smart at the 2025 Sugar Bowl
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart. (Photo by Stephen Lew-Imagn Images)

Athens, Ga – Georgia is now 1-0. The Bulldogs opened the 2025 season with a 45-7 win over Marshall on Saturday in Athens. The message from head coach Kirby Smart is the same. Ahead of Georgia’s opener against Marshall, Smart told reporters ‘the opponent is us’.

Georgia faced a Marshall team that had 70-plus new faces in the program after a head coaching shift. This week, Georgia has more film to break down from Austin Peay. The Govoners defeated Middle Tennessee State 34-14 on Saturday.

This is Georgia’s lone FCS opponent on the 2025 schedule. There is no spread attached to this weekend’s game, but Georgia is seen as a heavy favorite once again.

Georgia hit the practice field in preparation for the game on Monday. Smart has Georgia looking at what they can do better while also preparing for the Governors.

“I’m excited to get ready for Austin Peay, another home game, another home opportunity for our team,” Smart told reporters on Tuesday. “A lot of respect for this team. They played a good Middle Tennessee team and jumped on them and played really well, done a great job with their program. Been through some injuries last year that probably hurt them, but they’ve got a good group coming in to play us. Our guys had a really good practice yesterday. I thought we had good energy, enthusiasm. Made some corrections, and then worked on us and worked a little bit on Austin Peay as well. So, looking forward to this week.” 

Georgia is getting ready for a less mysterious opponent

Smart highlighted some of the challenges Austin Peay provides. The Governors got after the Middle Tennessee quarterbacks quite a bit in the opener. They also played on Middle Tennessee’s side of the line of scrimmage a good bit. Austin Peay earned five sacks. They also had eight tackles for loss.

Austin Peay showcased balance offensively, running for 150 yards with five players who had at least five carries. The Austin Peay passing game tallied 193 yards and two touchdowns. Those belonged to starter Chris Parson.

Smart has Georgia preparing for a few different challenges in week two. The effort and connectiveness of Austin Peay present a challenge for Georgia.

“Twitchy, quick, disruptive, keep you off balance,” Smart said of Austin Peay’s defense. “Their defensive coordinator was at Tennessee Tech last year. He does a great job. They have guys that run to the ball really well, disruptive inside. They understand their job and their gap. It’s not as simple as just walking out there and saying, okay, well, you’ve got bigger and supposedly better players than these guys, just go run all over them. It’s not that simple. These guys are disruptive in what they do. They’re tied together. They play really hard. I always tell everybody, effort counts twice. If you play with great effort, it’s worth double the value.”

Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. at Sanford Stadium on Saturday.

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