ATHENS — Kirby Smart has mastered the art of noon kickoffs for Georgia football, and he had plenty of practice.
The Bulldogs lead the SEC in the number of noon kickoffs since 2013 (with 39), per an AL.com study by Michael Casagrande, and the most recent 24 of those have come in Smart’s 7 1/2 seasons leading the program.
Georgia plays at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at Auburn in a CBS game, and next week’s game with Kentucky has been set for a 7 p.m. kick, but a noon game at Vanderbilt may be forthcoming in 2 1/2 weeks.
Georgia has already played one noon game this season (a 45-3 win over Ball State), and if history is an indicator might play two or three more.
The Georgia Tech “rivalry” has devolved into a noon kickoff, and many of Georgia’s recent Vanderbilt and Missouri games have been played at noon.
Smart has said he likes the early kickoffs because it allows him more time with family and recruits — important, in light of the fact Georgia plays one less home-state game every other year than all the SEC opponents with the UGA administration extending the contract to play designated home games against Florida in Jacksonville.
“Probably being able to go home and watch the night games with my kids and my wife is the big thing for me,” Smart said in 2019 when asked about the advantages of the early kickoff games.
Smart said in 2020 the Bulldogs to make sure to adjust their body clocks before noon kicks.
“That’s a time frame where you’ve got to kind of get used to it,” Smart said. “You’ve got to get comfortable with it, get used to getting up and going. Our kids don’t operate like that.
“It will be important the Thursday and Friday leading up to that they get a good sleep schedule.”
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