Did Kentucky’s offense find the answers it was seeking in that final drive at Missouri?
Did Kentucky’s offense get some swagger back after that final drive to win the game at Missouri?
Did completing all six passes, including the 2-yard game winner to C.J. Conrad with no time left on the clock, help the confidence of first-year quarterback Terry Wilson?
“I’ve seen Terry really confident,” Coach Mark Stoops assured Thursday, as No. 9 Kentucky prepared to take on No. 6 Georgia for the Southeastern Conference East Division title.
“He’s really throwing the ball well this week, and I see the offense in general building off that.”
More important than Wilson’s confidence, Stoops said that final drive “did a lot for his team’s confidence in him.”
Wilson, who had 267 yards and the TD throw versus the Tigers, has a lot of belief in what Kentucky can do offensively despite its recent struggles that have included just four touchdowns for that group in the last 14 quarters.
“I’ve just got to keep that momentum going, can’t let up, have to keep pushing,” Wilson said. “Just have to keep that chip on my shoulder.
“We have a lot of weapons out there that a lot of people don’t know about.”
On Tuesday after watching seven-on-sevens, Kentucky’s offensive coaches saw more oomph from the offense this week in preparation for the Bulldogs (7-1, 5-1), who have won eight straight over UK.
“Huge. You can’t put a price on it,” offensive coordinator Eddie Gran said of UK’s confidence gained from that final drive against Missouri. “We were really, really sharp catching the ball and throwing the ball — guys throwing the ball on time. I think that comes from that confidence after that last drive.”
There’s definitely more confidence for players like Lynn Bowden, who is coming off a huge performance that included 13 catches for 166 yards, both career highs, as well as a 67-yard punt return for a score.
“I was very pleased to see Terry (Wilson) grow and our offense and the players around him improve because they certainly took away the run game,” Stoops said of Missouri.
“We had to throw the ball for just under 300 to win because the run game wasn’t working. So, that to me is a sign of progress and we’ll continue to build on that.”
But that leads back to the run game, which Kentucky (7-1, 5-1) is going to need if it wants to win on Saturday at Kroger Field. Georgia is the league’s best pass defense, allowing just 165.6 yards per game with six scores and five picks.
“They do a really good job of dissecting offenses, knowing our tendencies and then being able to get those communicated to their kids and then they can try to stop what we do well,” co-offensive coordinator Darin Hinshaw said of Georgia, the No. 12 scoring defense in the country. “We’ve got to be able to run the football. We’ve got to be able to convert third downs. That hurt us last year at their place.”
The run has been a staple for the Cats behind junior star Benny Snell, who needs just 65 more yards to get to 1,000 yards for a third straight season. In two seasons against Georgia, Snell has run 43 times for 208 yards and three touchdowns.
In the Bulldogs’ lone loss this season at Louisiana State, they allowed 275 yards and three touchdowns on the ground with the Tigers running it 51 times.
Statistically, Georgia is not as good at stopping the run as other SEC foes UK has faced this season like Texas A&M, Mississippi State and Missouri.
The Bulldogs are the eighth-best run defense in the league allowing 140.5 yards a game and nine touchdowns. Against ranked teams, UGA is yielding 222.5 yards per game on the ground (5.1 yards per carry).
“It’s my job to get them going, to have that edge, to have that physicality that we did not have that mentality,” Gran said on Tuesday of his offense. “We’ve got to have that against a really, really good Georgia team.”