Georgia HC Kirby Smart gets blunt about time change and cowbells heading to Mississippi State

Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs could have more than one distraction to dodge this weekend.

Kelsey Kramer — College Football & NFL Trending News Writer
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Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart tells the students section to calm down during the fourth quarter of an NCAA football game, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla.
Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union-USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Georgia Bulldogs are headed to Mississippi this weekend to face the Maroon Bulldogs. While kickoff is set for Noon ET, Kirby Smart’s squad will be taking the field at 11 am due to the time change.

An hour behind of normal schedule may not seem like much, but it can take a subtle toll on players’ focus and energy levels. Still, Smart isn’t one for excuses and expects his team to show up and play solid Georgia football.

“As far as the early kickoff, that’s more unique to me than the stadium,” Smart said. “When you go to the road games, it’s road games, and it’s hard. The uniqueness is the change in time, time zone, a little bit, because you’re changing time zones, and what time the kick is. Unless they don’t have to show up until earlier or later, it’s the same for both. It’s how you manage it. We approach it differently, take a lot of ideas from other people on the best way to manage it, but sometimes you make a bigger deal out of it than it is. You’ve just gotta go play.”

Georgia has another distraction to consider

On top of the time zone change, Georgia will also have to deal with another distraction, a Mississippi State crowd filled with ringing cowbells.

Smart was very blunt about what it means to play in the SEC, and how it’s loud no matter where you go, though Davis Wade Stadium is one of the loudest.

“Noise is noise,” Smart said. “It’s hard to play in the SEC on the road. I have not been to an SEC venue that it was not hard to play into on the road. It’s just hard. That’s not going to change with them. They’ve got a really vertical stadium. I think the noise gets trapped in their stadium. It’s one of the loudest places I’ve coached, and I’ve coached there a lot. They’ve got a lot of pride in how they play and how their team plays and the support of their team.”

Georgia enters this matchup following a narrow victory over Florida, and with the playoffs quickly approaching, all eyes are on the Bulldogs as they aim to keep proving themselves.

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