FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Two games into the season and No. 2 Georgia has yet to be tested, having beaten Tennessee State and Western Kentucky by a combined 110 points.
The Bulldogs’ third game of the season should provide a bit more of a challenge, though given Arkansas’ struggles so far, the Razorbacks (1-1) probably aren’t a litmus test of what Georgia (2-0) can expect from most of its Southeastern Conference season the rest of the way. Arkansas hasn’t
won an SEC game since Oct. 26, 2024.
A repeat of the 7-5 halftime deficit the last time coach Kirby Smart and Co. visited Fayetteville would be a major surprise.
That game served as the season-opener in the strange, COVID-shortened 2020 season. It saw Georgia’s now-iconic Stetson Bennett IV doff his third-string status and lead the Bulldogs to a 37-10 win. Georgia won national championships the next two seasons. Smart and his team learned a lot that day in Fayetteville. Circumstances in 2026 are far different. At least, they’re different for the visitors.
“You’ll learn a lot about them (his team) if they have adversity,” Smart said. “I’ve learned a lot about our teams in the past from going to play in SEC environments when maybe we haven’t played our best or maybe we get in one of those hornet nest games and you have to fight your way out of it.”
First-year Arkansas coach Ryan Silverfield would have had his hands full against Georgia, anyway. Disparaging remarks he made about the Bulldogs program during his time at Memphis have come back into focus during game week.
Silverfield was asked last year about his team’s preparation and how they set a standard. When he said “not our standard is ‘Georgia wide receiver arrested for driving 900 miles per hour over the speed limit.’ That’s a weekly occurrence,” the Arkansas job wasn’t open yet.
Smart said Monday that he has since talked to Silverfield about the comments and they’re letting bygones go.
“That’s much ado about nothing,” Smart said. “He made a choice to talk about what he wanted to talk about. He did apologize about it. I think (he) was talking about generalities.”
Georgia is 10-2 against Arkansas since the Razorbacks joined the SEC in 1992. Arkansas hasn’t won in the series since 2010 when Bobby Petrino coached the Razorbacks to the Sugar Bowl.
Arkansas hardly looks the same as last year, never mind five years ago when the two last met. The Razorbacks have 80 players on the roster who played elsewhere last year.
“You don’t know much about them, so the evaluation is of our team,” Smart said. “That’s what I spend my time worrying about is our team. You spend too much time worrying about their team, and you won’t have a good team.”
Arkansas quarterback KJ Jackson wasn’t named the starter until near the end of fall camp. His play through two games hasn’t inspired confidence and Silverfield pulled him for AJ Hill Jr. near the end of last week’s 43-10 loss to No. 20 Utah.
Jackson completed 14 of 34 passes for 139 yards and an interception against the Utes. After the game, Silverfield said he anticipated sticking with Jackson again against Georgia. As of Monday, that’s still the plan. Tentatively.
“I thought the quarterback play was not to the standard that we expect and not to the standard to win football games,” Silverfield said. “We plan on having KJ as our starting quarterback, but I’ve got great faith in everybody in that quarterback room.”
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