The Austin Peay Governors were the best turnaround story in Division I college football last season.
They were not, however, a legitimate gauge for the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday, when the reigning Southeastern Conference champions opened their season with a 45-0 cruise inside Sanford Stadium. The fourth quarter of the mismatch was trimmed to 10 minutes.
"This is just more of a game where you see what you want to improve on and what you need to work on as practice goes," junior receiver Mecole Hardman, who had a 59-yard touchdown reception late in the first half to put the Bulldogs up 38-0, said afterward. "That's what this game is going to show, so we just need to go back, watch the film and go from there."
Four SEC teams - Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss and Tennessee - opened Saturday with neutral-site contests, with LSU becoming the fifth Sunday night. Those programs now have more of an early measuring stick compared to Georgia, but that's about to change.
The No. 3 Bulldogs will face South Carolina on Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium in a matchup of teams that were first and second in last year's SEC East race. Media covering the league have picked them to finish in that order again.
"I thought we had a lot of young guys today who had a lot of jitters and needed to get those out," third-year Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart said. "We've got to grow up and grow up fast, because the road in front of us is not easy, and we're getting ready to play a team that I have a lot of respect for in a place that is a place that's extremely difficult to play in."
Georgia's 24-10 win over the Gamecocks last season in Athens was its closest contest against a divisional rival, with the 53-28 trampling of Missouri the second-closest call. South Carolina went 9-4 in coach Will Muschamp's second season, capping it with a 26-19 comeback victory over Michigan in the Outback Bowl.
Muschamp and Smart are former Georgia defensive backs who worked together early in their coaching careers at Division II program Valdosta State and LSU.
"It's never easy with Will, because I have a lot of respect for him as a coach and as a person," Smart said. "Our careers have paralleled a lot, and I think he does a tremendous job. I just have a lot of respect for the way he coaches and the way their team plays.
"It's not easy, but it's not about us either. It's about the players."
Georgia's first two games this season have a similar feel to last year, when the Bulldogs opened with a 31-10 triumph over visiting Appalachian State, then ventured to Notre Dame for the first time and pulled out a 20-19 win. Last year's topping of the Fighting Irish was historic, but this week's matchup has been viewed by many as the most important SEC East clash of the season.
The Bulldogs expect to draw from last year's experience in South Bend, Indiana.
"It will be tough, but you've got to go in and trust the guys next to you," sophomore quarterback Jake Fromm said. "They have to do their jobs, and you have to do yours. At the end of the day, you're playing a football game in a different atmosphere."
Said sophomore tailback D'Andre Swift: "I think it will be really similar. We've got to be physical with them. We've got to develop a great game plan and just prepare."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.