Kirby Smart uses one-word description of Georgia fans following win over Arkansas

Heading into Saturday’s slate, No. 8 Arkansas at No. 2 Georgia appeared to be one of the top games of the week. Sam Pittman and Arkansas were 4-0, with wins over two ranked opponents in Texas and Texas A&M, and Pittman was facing his former boss in Kirby Smart; Smart had led the Bulldogs to a 4-0 record of their own, with one win over a ranked opponent in a Week 1 win over Clemson.

Georgia emerged victorious, 37-0, over Arkansas, and Smart after the win thanked Georgia fans for showing out in Athens. He used one word to describe Bulldogs’ faithful: elite.

“My opening remark would be how incredible our fan base is,” Smart said in the opening statement of his postgame press conference. “They answered the bell today. I think all of you guys would admit they were elite, and we noticed it. And to come out there in warmups and coming out of the tunnel and looking up there to see every seat full in a noon kick, it’s special. It’s special to be at Georgia.”

Smart’s Georgia Bulldogs were fresh off a shellacking of Vanderbilt, a game in which they defeated the home team Commodores by a final score of 62-0. In that contest, Georgia managed to jump out to a 35-0 lead in the first quarter before pulling its starters. Smart’s offense totaled 532 total yards of offense, and the stiff defense allowed just 77 Vanderbilt yards.

Many wondered if that game was a fluke, seeing as Vanderbilt sits in the basement of the SEC standings. But on Saturday, Smart and the Bulldogs proved it was everything but a fluke, as they put together their second consecutive shutout in a 37-0 rout of Arkansas.

Georgia asserted its dominance early on against Arkansas, scoring a first-drive touchdown then holding the Razorbacks’ offense to an abysmal start in their first drive. Arkansas’ first drive featured back-to-back false start penalties, placing Pittman’s offense at first-and-20 on their own seven-yard line. One more sack and incomplete pass, and Arkansas was forced to punt on its first drive, managing to put up -14 yards of offense in three plays.

Smart credited Georgia fans, in part, for disrupting the rhythm of Arkansas’ offense early on.

“They [the fans] impacted the game,” Smart said. “I thought the first series for Arkansas on offense, our crowd was extremely disruptive. I thought our crowd impacted the blocked punt in terms of cadence and things like that which forced a touchdown. So, I give our crowds, our fans, at least ten points, and that’s big.”