Field Street Forum

Fresh off an impressive 49-3 rout of No. 11 Oregon in Atlanta, third-ranked Georgia (1-0) plays host to Samford (1-0) Saturday at 4 p.m. on the SEC Network. The Bulldogs of Samford upset No. 8 Kennesaw State 27-17 in Birmingham, Ala., on Sept. 1. The Samford Bulldogs are part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). They are led by Chris Hatcher, who hired Kirby Smart for his first coaching job at Valdosta State in 2000. Smart served as the defensive backs coach, and the defensive coordinator at that time was Will Muschamp. In 2001, Muschamp left to become linebackers coach at LSU and Smart was promoted to defensive coordinator. Georgia is 1-0 all-time versus Samford, winning 42-14 in 2017.

Saturday will mark the home opener for Georgia where the Bulldogs are 368-107-9. In the Smart era, the Bulldogs are 31-4 at home including 29-1 since 2017. Georgia’s .886 winning percentage at home under Smart is the best in school history. The Bulldogs were 3-3 at home in his first season (2016), and the only loss since then came in double overtime to South Carolina in 2019. Georgia has won 12 straight home games.

Georgia has a streak of 58 consecutive sellouts that began Sept. 15, 2012 versus Florida Atlantic. The last non-sellout was Sept. 1, 2012 versus Buffalo. The school record for consecutive sellouts is 64. The record streak began Sept. 1, 2001 versus Arkansas and lasted through Sept. 10, 2011 versus South Carolina.

Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium grew to its current capacity of 92,746 in 2004. It ranks fifth among capacity for SEC stadiums and ninth for largest on-campus stadiums across the country.

Read more