The news on the injury front isn’t particularly good for Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech.

Along with linebacker Monty Rice, who is expected to be out with an injured foot, the Bulldogs (10-1) will also without the services of offensive lineman Kendall Baker who is out with an injured knee.

There’s more.

“Walter (Grant) has had an ankle that's been ongoing. He's practiced and played with it. He played in the game the other night with it,” Smart said. “Cade (Mays), we're not sure if he'll be available this week or not. He's not going to practice today. But we hope to get him back soon, as soon as he gets cleared. Kendall (Baker) is very doubtful.”

David Marshall (foot) and DaQuan Hawkins-Muckle (undisclosed injury) are not expected to play, either.

Smart does hope the ankle injury suffered by offensive lineman Ben Cleveland will allow him back on the field against Georgia Tech (7-4).

Cleveland returned two weeks ago against Auburn after missing five games with a broken fibula at Missouri only to suffer a sprained ankle, an injury that kept him out of last week’s UMass game.

“Ben is continuing along the same path. Ben's cleared to play, and he's just getting over an ankle injury. That, coupled with his leg, as we talked about after the game the other night. He's just fighting back,” Smart said. “We hope he'll be back this week. He's playing. He's playing on punt team. Just trying to get him back 100 percent.”

It may not be the perfect situation, but Smart said he’s not sure when his Bulldogs could play the Yellow Jackets if not on the last day of the regular season.

“I think it's hard to do in the Georgia Tech situation, because it's what they do, and it's a traditional rival,” Smart said. “You don't run and try to get away from that.”

Now, as far as having to play a triple-option team, that’s a bit of a different story.

“If you're asking me, ‘Do I want to schedule a triple option team?' I'd prefer not. That's not what I'm looking forward to playing,” Smart said. “My whole thing in scheduling is, I want to play as many good football teams as we can, and it's never really been about the offense. It's been about the home-and-home. And it's been about the opportunity to play big games. I mean, that's important to us in our future. It's not really necessarily what offense they run, but given the opportunity, I would rather play a style of offense that we will play more often in our league."

Justin Fields has been named Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week following his performance during the 66-27 win over Massachusetts, according to a league announcement.

This marks the first SEC weekly award for Fields in his career.

Fields, a native of Kennesaw, went 5-for-8 for a career-high 121 yards and two touchdowns through the air. He added a career-high 100 yards rushing and a score on seven carries during the Bulldogs’ victory. Georgia’s 66 points were the most for the program since the Bulldogs blanked Troy 66-0 in 2014.

His 100 yards marked the first time a quarterback had led the Bulldogs in rushing since 2005 (D.J. Shockley vs. Boise State, 85 yards) and made him the first Georgia signal caller with 100 yards rushing since Quincy Carter went for 114 versus Kentucky in 1998. Along with fellow signal caller Jake Fromm, Fields directed an offense that tallied 701 total yards on offense, which ranks No. 2 in school history behind the 713 tallied versus FAU in 2012.

"I always want to put people down by multiple scores, don't you? I don't know a game you go say, well, let's keep this one tight for a while. I love the theories behind all this, but, I mean, yeah, I would love to get a lead, if that's what you're asking. But that doesn't put any more pressure to say we have to have it. You've got to play the game you’ve got, and you've got to do a good job managing whatever it is, whether you're behind, ahead—doesn't matter. You've got to do a good job managing it." – Smart on the importance of getting off to a big lead against Georgia Tech.

. . . Georgia announced that all three of its practices, typically be available for media viewing, will be closed.

. . . Saturday’s announcers on the SEC Network will be Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers, and Cole Cubelic.