Kirby Smart previews Georgia's upcoming game at Tennessee

Kirby Smart has led Georgia to a consensus No. 1-overall ranking and a 9-0 record, but now the Bulldogs will take to the road for the most hostile environment of the season: an away game against the Tennessee Volunteers.

Neyland Stadium and its 100,000-person-plus capacity has long been labeled a tough road environment for any team. But Smart is confident that Georgia is up for the task after a 43-6 win over Missouri — one that, believe it or not, left Bulldogs’ players disappointed with the team’s performance.

“Some of those guys stood up and didn’t feel like it as our best effort,” Smart said of the win “It was a little lackadaisical at times.”

Heading into Tennessee, Smart has shifted his attention to playing in a tough Knoxville environment. He gave a brief preview of the matchup after Saturday’s win, reiterating that Georgia has to prepare for an improved Volunteers team.

“[Tennessee] is a really tough environment, one of the toughest places to play in the country. Their fan base is bought in, all in on Coach Heupel and his staff,” Smart said. “It will be a tremendous atmosphere and opportunity. So many other conferences don’t have teams that maybe aren’t in the hunt for an SEC Championship that [still] have that much passion. They’re going to sell it out and be really loud. It will be a great atmosphere, and our players will need to prepare for it. We will need to prepare our players for it. It will be a really tough and physical game. They’ve got a really good football team.”

Smart sang high praise for Josh Heupel’s Tennessee Volunteers, and for good reason. After consecutive losses to Ole Miss and Alabama, Tennessee rebounded with a 45-42 loss over then-No 18 Kentucky Saturday. Ever since Heupel made a move at quarterback, replacing Joe Milton with Hendon Hooker, Tennessee’s offense has looked worlds different. Hooker on Saturday had another excellent game, completing 15 of 20 passing attempts for 316 passing yards, four touchdowns, no turnovers and an additional 41 rushing yards.

“I’ve been able to watch them play several weeks that we’ve either been off or we had an early game and I got to see them at night, and they’ve actually played a lot better than some of their scores indicate,” Smart said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for their team and how hard they play, so I think our guys realized that we had a little bit of a wake-up call [against Missouri]. It was a subpar outing for us in terms of execution and play style.”

There will be plenty of pressure in Tennessee Saturday, and that goes for both teams. SEC Nation, SEC Network’s traveling show, will be in Knoxville for the game, only adding to the rivalry’s build up.

Georgia holds a 25-23-2 edge over Tennessee in the all-time series, and the Bulldogs currently are on a four-game winning streak dating back to Sept. 30, 2017. With a win, Georgia would increase its win streak to Tennessee to five games, a feat that’s only happened twice in Georgia program history.