Kirby Smart finally draws a home game for No. 5 Georgia against No. 17 Alabama after 10-year wait

Audio By Carbonatix

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Kirby Smart has had to wait 10 years for his Georgia team to play at home against Alabama.

Saturday night's visit by No. 17 Alabama to No. 5 Georgia gives Smart, the former Crimson Tide defensive coordinator, a long-awaited opportunity to have the home-field advantage in the high-profile Southeastern Conference rivalry.

While waiting on this home game, Georgia has struggled to a 1-6 record against Alabama under Smart.

One of Smart's highlights of his decade leading the Georgia program is beating Alabama in Indianapolis on Jan. 10, 2022, to win the national championship, ending a 41-year title drought for the program. Georgia added a second straight national title the following year.

Otherwise, Alabama is 6-0 against Georgia in the Smart era. The Crimson Tide beat the Bulldogs 41-34 in Tuscaloosa last season in Kalen DeBoer's first SEC game as Alabama's coach. It was Alabama's second home win over Smart's Bulldogs. Alabama's other four wins over Smart and Georgia have come in Atlanta, including three SEC championship games and the 2018 national championship game.

Can Georgia's home-field advantage end Alabama's run of success against the Bulldogs?

“Playing at home, it helps,” Smart said Monday. "The atmosphere helps, the crowd noise helps, being familiar with your surroundings and all that stuff helps, but at the end of the day, you have to go play football. It comes down to matchups, it comes down to who blocks and who tackles the best, who executes and does things in the key moments of the game. So, certainly glad it’s at home, but we’ve still got to play well.”

Georgia (3-0, 1-0) gained momentum for the visit from Alabama by beating Tennessee 44-41 in overtime on Sept. 13 in another important SEC game. Alabama (2-1, 0-0) beat Wisconsin 38-14 on Sept. 13. The Bulldogs and Crimson Tide were off last week.

Georgia's first two home games were wins over Marshall and Austin Peay. Smart wasn't happy to see fans leaving in the third quarter of the runaway 45-7 victory over Marshall on Aug. 30, and a weather delay helped put a damper on the crowd in a sluggish 28-6 win over Austin Peay on Sept. 6.

There would be a significant difference in the Sanford Stadium atmosphere for any visit from Alabama. That edge could be intensified by the prime-time kickoff. Georgia's crowd noise is known to peak for high-profile night games.

“I would agree with that statement, that it’s louder at night than day,” Smart said. "... I think the crowd has a little longer to get prepared for it, and they’re louder. I mean, they’re not as taxed, not as much heat. So the games I’ve coached in, played in, been a part of, night games are a little more rowdy.”

Georgia players used last week's extra practice time to begin getting excited about the big game.

“The talent they have and the talent we have, any time you get two elite programs going head to head, it results in some good games that we’ve all seen in the past,” punter Brett Thorson said. “So obviously we want to win the SEC and we know Alabama is always going to be a tough team in the SEC. So any time that game comes up, you know it’s going to be a good challenge really to test where we’re at and where we’re going this year. And it’s exciting.”

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football