‘The belief has definitely changed.’ UK looks to be more than competitive with Georgia.
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Preview: No. 20 Kentucky at No. 1 Georgia
Click below to read more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s preview coverage ahead of Saturday’s Kentucky-Georgia football game at 7 p.m. in Athens, Ga.
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Whether Kentucky football has truly passed beyond the point of moral victories may face no more telling test than the Wildcats’ play against No. 1 Georgia this weekend.
A year ago, Kentucky held the undefeated defending champions to a season-low 16 points. Two years ago before the Bulldogs’ national championship, only one team played Georgia closer than Kentucky in the regular season.
But both those games ended just like the previous 11 in the series: a Kentucky loss.
“It’s a real challenge playing those guys,” UK coach Mark Stoops said. “They’re just a very good team. They are obviously talented, that goes without saying. I think I mentioned a year ago postgame and throughout the year: I don’t think they get enough credit for how well they’re coached as well.”
Kentucky is far from alone in trying to chase the standard Georgia has set at the top of the Southeastern Conference.
Georgia brings a school-record 22-game winning streak into this contest. Only one SEC East team has beaten the Bulldogs since 2019. Kirby Smart’s team has won five of the last six SEC East titles.
Kentucky’s last win over Georgia came in 2009. The Bulldogs were dominant against Kentucky early in Stoops’ tenure, winning the first three games against him by a combined 149-51 score, but since 2014 five of seven games in the series have been decided by 17 points or less.
Three times in the last four years, Kentucky has held Georgia to 21 points or less, but the Wildcats have scored no more than 13 points in any of those games. The final scores may have been close, but there were few points in any of those games where it looked like UK was a real threat to win.
So, how does Kentucky take the step from being competitive to actually beating Georgia?
“True belief,” offensive coordinator Liam Coen said. “True preparation. At the end of the day, it’s a game and anything can happen. The way that we practice this week and the way that we prepare, the way that we travel, the way that we approach this thing I think will tell a lot about where things are at on Saturday. I do believe that there’s a real belief here.”
Coen was UK’s offensive coordinator in 2021 when Kentucky and Georgia met in a winner-take-all game for the SEC East. Kentucky never led in the game and trailed 30-7 for most of the fourth quarter until scoring a touchdown with just four seconds left in the game.
“I remember walking out of that game, saying the first 20 plays of the game, I didn’t call it aggressive enough,” Coen said. “Then we got a little bit more aggressive and were able to move the football and do some things. So, I think it’s definitely a balance and a fine line, but we need to be aggressive.
“We need to give our kids an opportunity and a chance to go compete, and not just call it to hopefully get some things done. We have to be aggressive, we have to give our kids the best chance to be successful.”
With Coen back in the NFL, Kentucky played Georgia even closer last season. Despite being embarrassed the week before in a home loss to Vanderbilt, Kentucky was competitive with Georgia throughout a 16-6 loss. The Wildcats’ lone touchdown did not come until 9:52 remained in the fourth quarter though.
To beat Georgia this week, Kentucky will surely need a better offensive output than its recent meetings with the Bulldogs. Until UK proves capable of scoring consistently against Georgia’s vaunted defense, there will be little motivation for Smart to deviate from a conservative game plan that might result in a closer-than-expected final score but decreases the chances of self-inflicted mistakes contributing to an upset.
The good news is Georgia has already looked vulnerable in SEC games against South Carolina and Auburn. While the Bulldogs are still ranked No. 1, this does not seem to be quite as dominant a team as the last two national championship squads.
“I really do believe the belief of the whole team is completely different,” UK tight end Brenden Bates said. “The group of guys we have on this team, how excited we are, what we did in previous games, I think the belief has definitely changed. I mean, I’ve been here a long time and I can feel it.”
While Coen now believes his play-calling in the 2021 game was too conservative, he also acknowledged the risk of taking too many chances early in a game that might be better held in reserve for the right defensive matchup later in the contest.
An early statement might serve Kentucky well in helping lessen the effect of a hostile environment under the lights in Athens, but Georgia has shown a propensity to overcome early struggles and is unlikely to fold even in the event of an early UK touchdown.
Even with a loss to Georgia, Kentucky would have plenty of opportunities remaining for a special season. But if the Wildcats want to make a legitimate run at their first SEC East title in the last season of the two division format, a win in Athens might be necessary.
“Looking at 2021, that was a very competitive game,” running back Ray Davis, who transferred from Vanderbilt to Kentucky in January, said. “Looking at even 2022, that was a very competitive game. I look at it as they’re about one or two plays away from shocking the world.
“It’s probably going to be like that this Saturday coming up. Probably going to be one or two plays that we’ve got to capitalize on. We’ve got the ability to shock the world, and then go on from there.”
Saturday
No. 20 Kentucky at No. 1 Georgia
When: 7 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 5-0 (2-0 SEC), Georgia 5-0 (2-0)
Series: Georgia leads 62-12-2
Last meeting: Georgia won 16-6 on Nov. 19, 2022, in Lexington
This story was originally published October 4, 2023 at 10:31 AM.
