Georgia's season opener against Tennessee State is almost here and Kirby Smart has a simple message that he shared with the fans on Thursday.
This game will arguably be the easiest game of the season for Georgia, but the fact that Georgia football is finally back will still have fans extremely excited as they file into Sanford Stadium even if it's against a lesser opponent. Smart doesn't care about that though. He still wants the fans to have an impact on the game, so his message to them was simple. He wants Georgia fans to be loud and to drink some beer.
Kirby Smart told Buck Belue and 680 The Fan all he wants from Dawg Nation this weekend is to drink some beer and be LOUD. 😂🍺
— UGA Football Live - SEC Country (@UGAfootballLive) September 3, 2026
The Dawgs host Tennessee State at 3 PM ET this Saturday to open the 2026 season.
Sanford Stadium needs to be rocking. Go Dawgs! 🔴⚫️ pic.twitter.com/7qcRPXnd6K
Georgia's goal against Tennessee State is quite simple
Kirby Smart's goal for the fans in the stands is quite simple, and his goal for his team should be as well. Georgia is favored by nearly 50 points in this game, who knows if they will cover that spread but Smart will want them to win by a large margin.
He will also want Georgia to get up to a big lead early in the game that way he can rest his starters to avoid injuries. When this happens Smart will be able to put Georgia's backups in which is especially important at the quarterback position.
Georgia still doesn't have a backup quarterback set in stone yet. They will have to name a backup to Gunner Stockton before this game begins, but Smart himself recently said that this battle is still ongoing between Ryan Puglisi and Ryan Montgomery. Smart would love it if both players got a chance to play during this game so they can settle it on the field, but that can only happen if Georgia jumps out to a big lead early in the game.
Kirby Smart's betting curse will be put to the test against Tennessee State
As mentioned, Georgia is favored over Tennessee State by nearly 50 points. That indicates that Georgia should have no problem winning this game, but covering a spread this large can be challenging. In fact, Georgia is 0-15-1 against the spread in Kirby Smart's tenure when they are favored by at least 38.5 points.
The most important thing is that Georgia has never lost one of these games. Most of these games have also been won by at least a few scores as well, but Georgia has never been able to cover the spread when it has been this large.
If Kirby Smart cared about covering spreads he probably could've covered a handful of them over the years, he probably could cover the spread on Saturday against Tennessee State too. He however doesn't care about the spread at all. Instead of leaving his starters in to run the score up he would rather take them out of the game once the game gets out of hand. This ensures that no other starters get injured while also getting quality playing time for their backups to further their development.
Georgia has won two national championships and four SEC titles under Smart while never covering these large spreads, so as long as they win by a fair margin no one should be concerned if they don't cover the spread against Tennessee State on Saturday.
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