ATHENS — Saturday will be the first time Kirby Smart coaches against Arkansas head coach Ryan Silverfield.

But it is not the first interaction between the two SEC coaches.

When Silverfield was at Memphis last season, he took a public swipe at Smart and the Georgia program while speaking in a radio interview.

“Generally, on a Sunday afternoon when we meet with the team, we do two things,” Silverfield said last September. “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.”

Georgia has had a number of driving-related arrests in recent years dating back to the end of the 2022 season. Shortly after Georgia won the national championship, offensive lineman Devin Willock and recruiting staffer Chandler LeCroy died in a car accident in the hours after the team’s championship celebration in Athens.

Georgia has had three players arrested on driving-related offenses in 2026.

At SEC media days in July, Silverfield did share that he had reached out to Smart after the Arkansas coach made those remarks in 2025.

“When it happened, listen, I’ve got the deep, most respect for Kirby Smart and the Georgia athletic department and everything that he’s about,” Silverfield said. “Obviously, he’s done it at a high level so certainly a lot of respect for him. When it occurred, I reached out to him. He’s always been great to me. Even at my time at Memphis. He allowed us to come be a part of the camps. I think he knew that it was no ill will. Listen, I’ve got a lot of respect for him and what they’re doing.”

Monday was the first time that Smart was asked about Silverfield’s remarks.

“Yeah, that’s much ado about nothing.’” Smart said on Monday. “I mean, he made a choice to talk about what he wanted to talk about. He apologized about it. He wasn’t really, I think he was talking about generalities. All coaches, we show things other schools do to make mistakes, to try to educate our team.

“He’s trying to educate his team, and it’s everything he said, but that’s over and done with for me.

Georgia is a heavy favorite over Arkansas this week, as the Bulldogs are a 24.5-point favorite. Georgia enters the game with a 2-0 record, having beaten Tennessee State and Western Kentucky. The Razorbacks are coming off a 43-10 loss at Utah this past weekend.

Saturday’s game is set for a noon ET kick. Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek publicly voiced his displeasure with the start time of the game when it was announced over the summer.