Kirby Smart on limited attendance for UGA football at Alabama: ’They’ll find a way to crank noise in there’

No game was more anticipated on Georgia’s football schedule this season than the trip to Alabama.

Kirby Smart’s current team may still have a chance to go up against the Crimson Tide, the national powerhouse program where he coached under Nick Saban.

If Georgia does play in Tuscaloosa, it won’t be the Bryant-Denny Stadium Smart is used to seeing and hearing because of limited attendance under social distancing measures due to COVID-19.

“I know this, they still have a stereo system,” Smart said with a smile Thursday night on a 680 AM high school football roundtable show live streamed on YouTube. “They’ll find a way to crank noise in there. I’m sure everybody in the SEC, you’ll probably still have to have earmuffs without the crowd just because of the sound systems. The home team is going to find a way to make it an advantage I can promise you that.”

The SEC is one of three power five conferences that haven’t postponed the fall season yet. The Big Ten and Pac-12 did earlier this week.

Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne told reporters on Thursday that “if we are fortunate enough to move forward and play this year,” capacity at a stadium that seats more than 100,000 “will be significantly reduced: emphasize on the significant,” according to the Tuscaloosa News.

Georgia was scheduled to play at Alabama on Sept. 19, but the conference only 10-game schedule now is scheduled to start on Sept. 26. The new schedule has not been released.

The Bulldogs are slated to open preseason practices on Monday, the first day permitted by the SEC.