ATHENS — Saturday’s win over Ole Miss was not a traditional Georgia performance under Kirby Smart.

The defense struggled, not forcing a punt until the fourth quarter. Special teams were subpar, with Peyton Woodring shanking two kicks out of bounds.

But the offense was phenomenal, racking up 43 points and 510 yards of offense as it beat Ole Miss 43-35.

“I’m so happy the players get return on the work ethic, physicality we play with, how we practice,” Smart said after the win. “It paid off on offense. Our ability to run the ball at the end of the day is probably the difference in the game. We sure couldn’t stop them very often. We stopped them when we had to.

The offensive performance helped push Georgia up in the AP Poll Top 25 rankings for Week 9, as the Bulldogs are the No. 5 team. Georgia was ranked No. 5 in the Coaches Poll Top 25 rankings for this week.

Georgia heads into its second off week with a 6-1 record and 4-1 mark in SEC play.

The Bulldogs don’t return to action until Nov. 1, when they take on the Florida Gators in Jacksonville, Florida.

After the Ole Miss game, Georgia clearly has a lot to work on.

“You know, we’ve got to find a way to play better earlier,” Smart said. “And the theme this week was fast and free. I wanted the guys to be free from all hostage of a scoreboard. And I don’t know that we — I don’t know that we — I think offensively we played that way. I don’t know that we did defensively.”

There is some uncertainty surrounding Georgia’s next foe, as Florida coach Billy Napier is in hot water. Napier was booed off the field on Saturday, even after Florida held on to beat Mississippi State. The Gators are 3-4 on the season but 22-23 in the four seasons Napier has run the program. Napier is 0-3 against Smart.

While the Florida game may not appear tough, Georgia still has multiple tests in the month of November. The Bulldogs have ranked games against No. 22 Texas and No. 7 Georgia Tech on the schedule.

Georgia will have to be playing its best going into those games. The contest against Florida is set for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff on ABC.

Below, you can see the full AP Poll Top 25 rankings for Week 9.

AP Poll Top 25 rankings for Week 9

  1. Ohio State
  2. Indiana
  3. Texas A&M
  4. Alabama
  5. Georgia
  6. Oregon
  7. Georgia Tech
  8. Ole Miss
  9. Miami
  10. Vanderbilt
  11. BYU
  12. Notre Dame
  13. Oklahoma
  14. Texas Tech
  15. Missouri
  16. Virginia
  17. Tennessee
  18. South Florida
  19. Louisville
  20. LSU
  21. Cincinnati
  22. Texas
  23. Illinois
  24. Arizona State
  25. Michigan