Kirby Smart dealt out some sarcasm about the performance of his defense early in games on Saturday night.

"We've got a lot of practice at it," Smart said. "Y'all give me the stats. We're going to give one up (a touchdown) the first drive. Didn't shock me at all. I've practiced my patience."

Smart's defense actually took a couple of punches from Ole Miss. Two early scoring drives led to a 14-14 tie early in the second quarter.

But then, as it so often does, the Georgia defense adjusted and shut down the Rebels en route to a 52-17 victory.

"It’s a plethora of things that can possibly go wrong on those first couple of drives," defensive back Javon Bullard said. "Like I said, we’re one of the best teams in the country at sideline adjustments. We’re going to keep it moving, keep pushing. We’re focused on the present, but right now, we can’t focus on the first drive, we can’t focus on the next drive. We’ve got to focus on what’s in front of us."

Ole Miss had seven possessions after tying the game at 14, not counting a run on one play to end the first half. Those possessions went as follows: punt, interception, punt, punt, punt, field goal, turnover on downs.

Those sideline adjustments center around a couple of things according to Bullard.

"Stop the run. You’ve got to make somebody one-dimensional," Bullard said. "You’ve got to stop the run. If anybody wants to come in here and play Georgia football, you know we pride ourselves on stopping the run. We want to key down and definitely be able to do that, and just make an offense one-dimensional. Any time you can make an offense one-dimensional, you feel like you’ve got a great chance to win."

Teams have made a habit of scoring early against the Bulldogs. Saturday marked the fourth game in a row in which the opponent has scored on its first drive against the Georgia defense.

But football is a 60-minute game. The Georgia defense seems to grow increasingly stronger as the game goes on, allowing the Bulldogs to erase the deficit and pad the lead.

It's not necessarily ideal to start slow. But the Bulldogs also have the confidence to know they can overcome it.

"The sideline is very composed," defensive back Kamari Lassiter said. "We’re always just trying to figure out what’s going on, how we can fix it. By the time we get out on the field the next time, we want to have the problem rectified."