Georgia Wore White After Labor Day and Got Away With It

GEORGIA MONEYBALL — Saturday, September 12, 2026

The Bulldogs put on head-to-toe white for the first time in program history, whipped Western Kentucky 48–12, and headed for SEC play with their manners intact.

ALBANY, GA — · By the RFA Sports Desk

Down South a man learns two rules of dress early: hold your collar, and don't wear white after Labor Day. Saturday at Sanford Stadium, Georgia broke the second one in front of God and everybody and got away clean, whipping Western Kentucky 48–12 in white helmets, white jerseys and white britches — the first time in program history all three showed up to work together. Etiquette, like the Hilltoppers, never had a chance. The Bulldogs are 2–0, and nobody has called the fashion police yet.

The athletic department called it the 'Unleashed' White Out and asked the faithful to dress to match, so the whole place turned the color of a fresh bedsheet. Here's the number that ought to worry the rest of the league: Kirby Smart's teams came into the game 4–0 in alternate uniforms. Some coaches win with scheme and some win with talent. Smart apparently also wins in costume, which is more than most grown men can say.

Smart, for his part, spent the week sounding like a man unsatisfied with a 63–3 opener. 'If we're going to be a good football team, we've got to turn people over,' he told the radio audience on 680 The Fan, noting Georgia dropped an interception against Tennessee State and forced a fumble only after the whistle had blown. He'd also like less laundry on the field — eight flags for 85 yards in the opener. A man who fusses after 63–3 is a man who plans on playing in January.

The recruiting news came dressed for a home game too. Jayden Wade, Georgia's quarterback commit and the No. 2 overall prospect in the 2028 class, passed up a visit to Michigan — where the Wolverines were hosting Oklahoma — to sit in Athens and watch Western Kentucky instead. Sports Illustrated's Georgia site reports the young man is close to shutting his recruitment down for good. When a fellow skips the Big House for a Saturday against the Hilltoppers, the pen is about out of ink.

The soberer note belongs to Dante Dowdell. Smart told reporters Monday the transfer running back is 'nowhere near' returning as he rehabilitates in Atlanta from a July ATV accident. 'He's been around the team some, and he knows what his priorities are right now and that's trying to get healthy,' the coach said. Football hands you white-out parties and 48-point Saturdays, and then it reminds you the game is played by young men with whole lives attached. Here's hoping the next big Saturday in Athens is his.

A man who fusses after 63–3 is a man who plans on playing in January.

The Notebook

• FRIDAY'S MARQUEE: No. 25 Virginia did what ranked teams are supposed to do to overmatched guests, 59–3 over Norfolk State. Elsewhere, No. 24 Louisville handled Villanova 59–13 and No. 23 Missouri put away Kansas, 38–21.
• TODAY'S HONEST GAMES: Twelve games on the Saturday slate and only two the bookmakers won't guarantee: the Buckeye Nuts at the Longhorn Steers at 7:30 Eastern, Texas by a point and a half, and the Wagon Pullers at the Wolverine Weasels at noon, Oklahoma by five and a half.
• ON THE MACHINE: Our computer's held-out next-play accuracy sits at 53.3 percent. Treat any man who claims he knows what Georgia is about to run with the suspicion you would give a fellow selling a watch out of a coat.

Written in the tradition of Lewis Grizzard, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1946–1994.

Hear the desk read tonights report on Radio Free Albany, WPFQ 96.7.