Kirby Smart and Georgia May Face a First-Time Challenge Against Tennessee Volunteers

This Saturday, Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs may have to do something against Tennessee that they have never done before.

The Georgia Bulldogs and Tennessee Volunteers are just days away from their 2025 matchup as both teams look to begin their SEC schedules with wins against top-15 opponents. This will be the 55th all-time meeting between these two historic programs in a series that Georgia leads 29-23-2.

Georgia has dominated this series under Kirby Smart, winning eight of the last nine matchups. This stretch includes an impressive four-game win streak inside Tennessee's Neyland Stadium. But as Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs look for their fifth consecutive victory inside Neyland, the team may have to do something it has never done before.

To say Kirby Smart has been successful in Neyland Stadium would be an understatement. In fact, the Dawgs have won each of the four matchups by and average of nearly 30 points, while holding the Vols to under 20 in each contest.

Smart's dominance has unsurprisingly created some underwhelming environments from opponents on the road. With the game typically in hand by the fourth quarter, Neyland Stadium hasn't exactly been a difficult place to win a game.

That could change this Saturday, however, as the Volunteers look to provide Georgia with a fourth-quarter fight. This means if the game is within one score in the waning moments of the matchup, Kirby Smart and his Bulldogs could face an environment they haven't really seen before.

Although a fourth-quarter Neyland crowd at its peak isn't something the Dawgs have faced, Smart and his team have performed well in hostile environments before, such as Auburn, Texas, and multiple College Football Playoff games.

Georgia and Tennessee will kick off their Week 3 matchup in Neyland Stadium on Saturday, September 13th, at 3:30 p.m. Coverage of this event will be broadcast on ABC.