KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Saturday will be the 20th time Kirby Smart faces off against Tennessee as an on-field coach.

In the previous 19 games, his teams at Alabama and Georgia are 18-1, with the lone loss coming back in 2016 in what was his first year at Georgia.

Despite never winning in Neyland Stadium as a player, something Smart mentioned this week, he’s had plenty of success as a coach.

“I love it. I love seeing our players react to it and there is no passion and rivalries anywhere in the country quite like the SEC,” Smart told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt on winning on the road. “So when you go to these venues and these places and you’re riding in on the bus and you’re going by the river, it brings back so many memories of me as a player and I’ve coached there I think 20 consecutive years. Tennessee’s been on the schedule wherever I’ve been at so it’s a tough place to play but this is what’s fun about it. This is what you love about college football.”

While Georgia has enjoyed plenty of success of late, winning on the road has gotten more difficult since the SEC went away from the division format.

Twice last season, Georgia went on the road and lost. The foes — Alabama and Ole Miss — were both ranked at the time and proved to be high-water marks of their respective seasons.

Tennessee enters the game as the No. 15 team in the country. A win over Georgia on Saturday would go a long way in validating Josh Heupel and the program he is trying to build.

“I mean it’s a huge game because somebody at the end of it’s going to be 1-0 and somebody’s going to be 0-1 and all the narratives start and everybody tries to play a guessing game and nobody knows what the future holds,” Smart said to Van Pelt. “All I know is they got a bunch of really hard games after they play us and we got a bunch of really hard games after we play them but for this moment it’s an awesome venue and game and we’ll find out a lot about both teams.”

To Smart’s point, Saturday will be the toughest game Tennessee has played to this point in the season. The Volunteers beat up on Syracuse and East Tennessee State in the first two weeks.

Georgia opened the season against Marshall and Austin Peay. While Georgia had some issues in those contests, the Bulldogs a still a 4-point favorite over the Volunteers on Saturday.

Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET, with ABC broadcasting the game. It should be an incredible environment in Neyland Stadium, one he and his team are excited to enter.