Georgia Football to Face Arkansas Coach with Much to Say About Dawgs and Death

Ryan Silverfield during warmups at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

ATHENS - Georgia Football’s SEC opener comes against a new coach in the league - someone with much to say.

A year ago new Arkansas coach Ryan Silverfield made headlines by bringing up Georgia football coach Kirby Smart’s program.

“Generally, on a Sunday afternoon when we meet with the team, and we do two things,” Silverfield said while still as head coach at Memphis. “We always start off with not our standard - always start out with a negative. And the not our standard is: ‘Georgia wide receiver arrested for driving 900 miles per hour over the speed limit.’ That’s a weekly occurrence. So, that’s one we’ll show.”

"He made a choice to talk about what he wanted to talk about."

Georgia Football coach Kirby Smart

“A weekly occurrence” was a stretch to be sure; as was the 900-miles per hour comment. But Silverfield was trying to make a point to his team - one that Smart said Monday that he understands.

“He made a choice to talk about what he wanted to talk about. He did apologize about it,” Smart said. “He wasn't really... I think he was talking about generalities. All coaches, we show things other schools do to make mistakes to try to educate our team. He's trying to educate his team, and said what he said. But that’s over and done with for me.”

Smart’s No. 2-ranked Bulldogs travel to Arkansas Saturday for a showdown with Silverfield’s 1-1 Razorbacks. The Bulldogs are considered massive favorites to win the game. That could be the reason why Silverfield made more exaggerated comments - this time about his death.

“In my 28 years, there’s a lot of people who have tried to write my obituary,” Silverfield said at a press conference Monday. “And guess what? They haven’t done so yet. And we’ll keep coming out swinging and I plan on doing this thing for a long time and find ways to improve every week.”

The Hogs are coming of a 44-10 loss at No. 17 Utah - a game that ended very late, which push Arkansas’ return to Fayetteville late into Sunday morning. The UGA-Arkansas game will kickoff at 11 AM local time because of its broadcast to a national audience on ABC.

“This assigned schedule will cost our student-athletes nearly a full day of rest and recovery that they would otherwise have available to them,” Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek said in a statement in May. “This is not simply a competitive disadvantage, it is a genuine welfare issue for the young men who represent our program and contribute greatly to the bottom line of our television partners.”

“(It is) certainly challenging,” Smart said of Arkansas’ situation. “I wouldn't like it either. It's a tough situation to be in.”