Kirby Smart compares Georgia football to Halloween villain — and serves rat poison | Toppmeyer

Georgia football remains a recurring nightmare for opponents, and Kirby Smart has embraced the villain’s role.

“’Friday the 13th,’ they can’t kill Jason,” Smart said after No. 1 Georgia tortured Florida in a 43-20 victory Saturday. “He just keeps coming back, man.”

Happy Halloween.

Hide under the covers, Missouri.

Don’t go venture behind that creepy shed, Ole Miss.

Sleep with one eye open, Tennessee.

And beware of the villain in the hockey mask.

Fearsome as Georgia remains, the Bulldogs hear the whispers that we don’t think this team is as good as the two previous iterations that won national championships. But, that’s like saying Jason isn’t as scary as Pennywise or Chucky. Still, you wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley, and a team better have its best stuff to tame Georgia (8-0, 5-0 SEC).

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The Gators (5-3, 3-2) pieced together a perfectly scripted opening scoring drive. Allowing that early touchdown seemed to ignite Georgia’s defense.

“We got a lot of fire in us,” Bulldogs defensive lineman Zion Logue said. “We hadn’t been playing up to our standard. We wanted to come out and show people that we’re still that Georgia defense. We can still play with the best of the best.”

No. 16 Missouri (7-1, 3-1) will head into Georgia’s house of horrors next weekend. The Tigers had an open date to prepare.

Smart is luring them into Sanford Stadium with a big batch of rat poison. He effused praise for the Tigers minutes after Georgia looked the part of No. 1 in dismantling Florida.

“Nobody is playing better offensively right now” than Missouri, Smart said. Oregon and LSU might like a word, but go on …

“It’s going to be a big one next week,” Smart said. “That’s a really good team. They’re extremely physical. They’re big. They’re tough.”

The flattery isn’t hollow. Georgia spent a day preparing for Missouri, instead of Florida, during its bye week earlier this month.

To Smart’s point, Missouri’s Brady Cook is playing as well as any SEC quarterback not named Jayden Daniels. Missouri put a scare into Georgia last season before the Bulldogs wriggled off the hook.

This Missouri team is better than that one.

“They’re terrorizing defenses across our conference,” Smart said, as he continued to pile on the compliments.

Missouri’s offense is good, sure, but so is Georgia’s. Carson Beck keeps improving, and Georgia’s offensive line looked as strong as ever while road grading the Gators.

Here’s what might be scariest about the Bulldogs: They don't beat themselves. The Bulldogs are the SEC’s least penalized team. They committed just two infractions against Florida.

Although Georgia won't self-destruct, its opponents might. See Florida’s fourth-down trick play in the second quarter. Needing two feet to move the chains, Billy Napier bizarrely dialed up a halfback pass. Didn’t work.

Surprised by the wacky play-call? Logue wasn’t. As he sees it, opponents do that type of stuff because they’re afraid to run up the middle against Georgia. Napier defended his decision.

“Felt we had a good play,” Napier said. (No, you didn’t.)

“I think we're close,” he continued. (No, you weren’t.)

Smael Mondon inhaled Gators running back Trevor Etienne before he had much chance to think, let alone get a pass off.

All trick, no treat, when facing Georgia.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's SEC Columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Georgia football is a nightmare again, as Kirby Smart serves rat poison