This week we’re doing a deep dive on Georgia’s 2026 schedule.

We learned a bit last week about Georgia’s slate of games, as the Bulldogs learned their first three game times of the season.

The first two games generated little discussion, with the Bulldogs opening against Tennessee State and Western Kentucky. But Georgia’s first SEC game made national headlines thanks to what Arkansas’ athletic director had to say.

Hunter Yurachek used his social media platform to call out ESPN and the SEC for giving the Razorbacks an 11 a.m. CT start.

“This type of scheduling is unacceptable and demonstrates a clear neglect for the well-being of college athletes,” Yurachek said. “I am confident there are not many other programs in the SEC that would be placed in a similar position, and I will not quietly accept it for our program.”

Prior to playing Georgia, the Razorbacks have a road trip to Utah. That game starts at 9:15 p.m. Central Time. The Razorbacks won’t get back home until the early morning hours on Sunday.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey did weigh in on the matter, noting the difficult position Arkansas finds itself in.

“We have communicated the displeasure in advance,” Sankey told reporters. “It hasn’t changed. That’s one of those points of authority that are given to our broadcast partner.”

Even before factoring in the rest disadvantage, things were likely always going to be tough for Arkansas when it welcomed Georgia on Sept. 19.

From an on-field perspective, GEorgia won the SEC last season. The Razorbacks went 0-8 in conference play. Sam Pittman, a former Georgia assistant, was relieved of his duties as the team’s head coach and ultimately replaced by Ryan Silverfield of Memphis.

“We’ve texted back and forth,” Smart said following Pittman’s firing last year. “He knows that’s the nature of this business. He understands it. He’s very appreciative of the career he’s had, the work he’s done. He was glad I reached out, but we all know that’s part of it.”

Smart and everyone associated with Georgia was very fond of Pittman. The same likely can’t be said for how the Bulldogs might feel about Silverfield after comments he made last year while at Memphis.

While appearing on his weekly radio show, Silverfield took an unprompted swipe at Georgia over the program’s driving record.

“Generally, on a Sunday afternoon when we meet with the team, we do two things,” Silverfield said. “We always start off with not our standard, always start out with a negative. And the not our standard is ‘Georgia wide receiver arrested for driving 900 miles per hour over the speed limit.’ That’s a weekly occurrence. So, that’s one we’ll show.”

Smart has not yet been asked about Silverfield’s comments but you can imagine they will be a popular talking point during the week of the game.

Silverfield has already spoken about Arkansas’ game against Georgia earlier this offseason, noting the wide talent gap between the two teams.

“I don’t know how we match up with Georgia in our first SEC game from a talent standpoint,” Silverfield told On3’s Pete Nakos. “So let’s be the best in the country in the controllables. Best in the country in attitude.Best in the country in effort — those things have nothing to do with talent.”

Usually when Georgia faces an overmatched foe, it won’t try and run up the score. Last year’s game against Kentucky is an example of that. But there have also been times where Smart has let the score get rather lopsided. 2022 games against South Carolina and Vanderbilt come to mind, as does a 2018 game against Auburn.

The Arkansas game this year may fall into that latter category because of comments made by Silverfield.

Perhaps working in the favor of the Razorbacks is that the week after Georgia travels to Arkansas, the Bulldogs host the Oklahoma Sooners. Oklahoma made the College Football Playoff last season and has an early-season test against Michigan. If Oklahoma wins that game, it could very well find itself in the top-10 entering the Sept. 26 game against Georgia.

The looming specter of that Oklahoma game is why Georgia was very likely thrilled that its game against Arkansas is as early as possible.

Georgia obviously has to take care of business. If it can put away Arkansas, it can get back to Athens by Saturday evening, giving the Bulldogs as much time as possible to focus on a tough Oklahoma team.

In normal situations, the Georgia game against Arkansas would be circled as a trap game. It’s an obvious look-ahead spot and the first road game of the season. Georgia got all it could handle when it went on the road last season against Tennessee.

But when you factor in the talent advantage Arkansas finds itself in, to go along with the bulletin board material Smart has to work with, the Georgia-Arkansas game shapes up to be the kind of game where the biggest fourth-quarter decision is whether or not to go to a running clock.

That way Arkansas could get some more rest for its next game, and so Georgia can go about its season.