After cruising past Tennessee Tech a week ago, the undefeated and top ranked Georgia Bulldogs will open conference play on Saturday night. Their opponent, the Kentucky Wildcats, are fresh off of a devastating 31-6 loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks last Saturday.
The Bulldogs enter as heavy favorites, with many in the media not giving Kentucky much of a chance to pull off a stunning upset. Kirby Smart has never lost to Kentucky as a head coach, while Mark Stoops has an overall record of 0-11 against the Bulldogs over the course of his time in Lexington. Georgia beat Kentucky 51-13 a year ago in a ranked matchup where quarterback Carson Beck passed for four touchdowns.
Here is what the media is saying in the lead up to the game between the Dawgs and the Wildcats on Saturday.
A unique challenge
Georgia On3’s Jake Rowe joined The Chuck Oliver Show on Wednesday and had heavy praise for Wildcats’ quarterback Brock Vandagriff.
“I’m not worried about Brock Vandagriff’s talent or his ability to do things with his legs, and I think it’s a uniquely weird matchup for Georgia, dealing with a guy like him because I think that power run game downhill can get after them a little. And if they are vulnerable anywhere, it’s right at them. But I think he’ll play better going forward. He’ll always look back on that game and wish he had it back because he didn’t respond well.”
Brock Vandagriff and the Georgia defense should have a lot of familiarity with each other.
“Georgia on their mind.”
Colin Lynch of the College Football Network sees little to no chance for the Wildcats on Saturday.
“The only thing that could make anyone consider taking Kentucky on Saturday is the idea that it got caught in a look-ahead game and played as poorly as possible with Georgia on the mind. What’s hard to ignore is how poorly the offensive front played.“
“Kentucky could only muster 183 yards of total offense, and only 44 came in the air. South Carolina’s defensive front overwhelmed the Wildcats, and it’s hard to imagine they’ll be better against Georgia.“
Fortunately for Kentucky, Georgia’s defensive front is banged up entering the Kentucky game.
Look to the past
C.L. Brown of the Louisville Courier Journal sees all the trends as pointing the way of the Bulldogs.
“The way the Wildcats played in their 31-6 home loss to South Carolina, I was going to take the Bulldogs no matter how big the number. Under coach Mark Stoops, UK is 4-7 against the spread (ATS) when facing Georgia. That breaks down to 2-3 in Lexington, 4-5 as double-digit underdogs and 2-1 as double-digit home underdogs.”
“It’s not a great spot for UK either because, although UGA has Alabama lined up as its next game, it has an off week before facing the Tide on Sept. 28. There’ll be no looking ahead. But Georgia has won the last 13 in the series going back to the Cats’ 2009 win in Athens. The only way UK covers this spread is if the Dawgs look at their past history and don’t come to play.“
We think Kentucky has a lot of ways to cover the spread, which is massive.
Something to believe in
Jon Hale of the Lexington Herald-Leader gave fans reasons to be optimistic about Stoops’ ability to rebound from rough starts based on past results.
“To be clear, the moment is bleak for Kentucky football.“
“Last week’s game against South Carolina was supposed to be an opportunity for Mark Stoops’ team to send an early message that the disappointment of the last two seasons was a thing of the past by snapping a two-game losing streak against Shane Beamer’s squad. From there, Kentucky could use that momentum to prepare for a daunting schedule in the weeks ahead.“
“Instead, the Wildcats posted one of the worst performances of the Stoops era as a comedy of errors snowballed into a 31-6 loss. Now, with No. 1 Georgia traveling to Kroger Field and road games against three top seven teams still on the schedule, there are legitimate fears that the program’s eight-year bowl streak might end.“
“To right the ship, Kentucky must fix a myriad of issues on display against South Carolina quickly. But the good news is there have been moments during Stoops’ tenure before where the season looked lost, and the Wildcats still rallied to reach postseason play.“
Georgia is not the ideal team to try to rebound against, but Kentucky always seems to play Georgia tough.
Stoops to blame for Wildcats’ shortcomings?
CBS Sports’ Josh Pate offered perspective on the potential impact of Stoops’ attempt to leave for Texas A&M on the current state of the Kentucky program.
“If you know what I thought about Kentucky also, just to slip it in here.”
“Yeah, seems like a long time ago, but it’s not. You know, Mark Stoops tried hard to get out of Lexington. He tried to get that A&M job, and he had the A&M job…if the headline goes public, you better have the job locked up. The headline went public, he didn’t have the job locked up.”
“And there’s a funny thing that happens to a locker room full of guys that you recruited and you preached to be all in for Kentucky when you try and leave them and then someone slams the door in your face and you have to turn back and face them. Sometimes they tend not to want to go over the cliff for you anymore.”
If things go bad for Kentucky, then the Wildcats could really get into disarray. It is easier to lose a locker room after Stoops nearly took the Texas A&M job.
This article originally appeared on Bulldogs Wire: What media is saying about Georgia versus Kentucky
