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Kirby Smart challenged fans to brave the heat.
The Georgia football team kicks off its 2026 season on Saturday in Athens. Temperatures are expected to reach upwards of 95 degrees for the 3PM showdown with Tennessee State.
Head coach Kirby Smart challenged his fanbase to show up and support the Bulldogs despite the conditions. He does not want to make national headlines for the wrong reasons.
He watched the scenario play out just last week in Los Angeles.
No one watched USC’s season opener.
The Coliseum was empty on Saturday for the Trojans’ first game vs. San Jose State. Attendance was recorded at 51,144, suggesting there were 25,000 empty seats. It appeared to be far worse.
Didn’t realize USC’s spring game was today. pic.twitter.com/UB10IaZSdU
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) August 29, 2026
The optics were poor. A narrative was formed. Los Angeles does not care about college football.
The noise got so loud that the school put out a statement defending the lacking attendance. Heat was the main concern.
USC statement regarding attendance chatter from SJSU game at the Coliseum:
Also said they had a “heat plan” with additional cooling stations and cooling fans, and permitted fans to bring in additional water. Said they received “a lot of feedback” that weather was a factor. pic.twitter.com/6WhTwNTv3J
— Ira Gorawara (@IraGorawara) August 30, 2026
Kirby Smart does not want the same to happen in Athens. He knows it’s been hot. He implored fans to push through.
It’s been a scorching August for Georgia football.
Smart has kept tabs on temperatures throughout the summer. He suggested that the 2026 training camp has been the hottest yet.
“I’ll be interested to see as much about as our players as I do our fans. Let’s see if they can handle it,” he said in a weekly press conference, challenging supporters to attend the game.
“We measure all the outside ones against previous camps,” he continued. “It stood out as probably the hottest camp we’ve had. I always worry about our players being acclimated to a game type atmosphere in that heat because you don’t play games a lot of times in it. We practiced in it. We did get to scrimmage in it.”
Smart knows it will be hot on Saturday. Accuweather forecasts project highs around 96 degrees with a “real feel” of 110.
The players will be suited up as they have been throughout the summer. He asked that fans do the same. If not, the Bulldogs will be the target of online ridicule.