Georgia is headed into a Week 1 opener that could feel more like a furnace test than a football game.
When Tennessee State comes to town Saturday, AccuWeather is calling for a high of 96 degrees with a heat index of 110. That kind of heat can change the feel of a game in a hurry, but Kirby Smart said Georgia has spent fall camp getting used to it.
"We've been in it. We've been in it more than we've been in it in years past," Smart said on Monday.
"It's been really one of the hottest camps we've measured in terms of practices we've practiced outside and practices we've practiced inside. We measure all the outside ones against previous camps.
It stood out as probably the hottest camp we've had.
"I always worry about our players being acclimated to a game-type atmosphere in that heat because you don't play games a lot of times in it. We practiced in it.
We did get to scrimmage in it. But I'll be interested to see as much about our players as I do our fans.
Let's see if they can handle it."
Georgia’s players sounded like they had heard the message loud and clear. Chauncey Bowens pointed back to the work done outdoors, and Elijah Griffin said the Bulldogs were not spending much time in the indoor practice facility during fall camp. Griffin also brought up last November’s trip to Mississippi State, when an 11 a.m. local kickoff meant dealing with the sun the whole game.
For Griffin, the answer to a hot-weather game starts long before kickoff.
"Obviously you've got to hydrate. Obviously you've got to eat right, sleep right," Griffin said.
"There's a lot of factors that go into it. I know this weekend is supposed to be a little hot, so we're ready for it.
We scrimmaged in it during fall camp. We're ready for it."
Smart has long believed practice should be tougher than what comes on game day, and this is another example of that approach. The heat is part of the challenge, but it is also part of the preparation.
Nate Frazier put it plainly, saying it is hard to ever really be fully in shape for a practice at Georgia. He said the setup is intentional, and he expects it to pay off when the Bulldogs have to handle the conditions on Saturday.
"Since I've been here, there's not one game I've played and that's been harder than the Georgia football practice, if I'm being honest with you," Frazier said.
In Other News...
Georgia Fans Already Divided Over Another Sanford Stadium Gimmick
Georgia football is leaning into the kind of game-day presentation that can turn Sanford Stadium into a visual talking point before the first snap. The program announced it is asking fans to take part in a stadium striping event for the week four matchup against Oklahoma, a look it used last season, and it is also planning a white-out for the week two game against Western Kentucky. For a fan base that treats home-field atmosphere as part of the product, the message is clear: the Bulldogs want the stands to look as loud as they feel.
The response, as usual with these kinds of promos, has already split the room. Some fans like the coordinated look and the way it can make Sanford Stadium pop on television, while others see it as one more unnecessary gimmick layered onto an already big Saturday. With Oklahoma coming to town in week four, the striping idea is getting extra attention, and it will be worth watching whether the latest attempt at a themed crowd brings more buy-in the second time around. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Suddenly Has A Chance To Unlock A Former 5-Star Up Front
Xzavier McLeods retirement at the start of fall camp for the 2026 season changed the look of Georgias interior defensive line almost overnight. What had been a steady part of the rotation now has to be replaced by committee, and Kirby Smart has already signaled that the Bulldogs will sort out the snaps through competition rather than hand the job to one player.
That opens the door for Jordan Hall, a junior whose career has been slowed by injury issues, and for sophomore Elijah Griffin, whose talent gives Georgia a chance to get more out of the position group than it may have expected a few weeks ago. How much of that upside turns into actual production will depend on who can stay on the field and who can take advantage of the extra work now available up front. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Fans Have Every Reason To Push Back On Jeff Brohm
The scheduled home-and-home series between Georgia and Louisville is off, and both schools reportedly agreed to cancel it as the SECs move to nine conference games continues to reshape future slates. From Georgias side, the explanation appears tied to the growing difficulty of fitting everything in around an expanded conference schedule, a problem that has forced plenty of moving parts behind the scenes for athletic departments trying to balance competition, travel and long-term planning.
Jeff Brohm, though, offered a different version of events when he suggested Georgia was the side responsible for pulling the plug. That is where the frustration can linger for Bulldogs fans, especially with Louisville also known to have had its own trouble lining up Power Four opponents. The series is gone either way, but the debate over why it disappeared has left enough room for both schools to point in different directions. [Read more 🡒]