Kentucky vs. Georgia prediction: Can Wildcats give Bulldogs another scare?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kirby Smart praises Mark Stoops' tenure and competitiveness despite losses.
- Kentucky offensive line shows run gains but struggles to contain elite edge rushers.
- Georgia projects to control game and make statement; prediction: Bulldogs 31, Wildcats 6.
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Preview: Kentucky football at No. 12 Georgia
Click below to read more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s preview coverage ahead of Saturday’s Kentucky-Georgia game in Athens, Ga.
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After a frustrating loss at South Carolina, the task only gets more difficult for Kentucky football this week at No. 12 Georgia. Here are some final thoughts and predictions about how the game will play out in Athens.
Kirby Smart is a big Mark Stoops fan
Count Georgia coach Kirby Smart among the group that thinks Mark Stoops is getting too much flak for Kentucky’s recent struggles.
“It’s just really amazing what he’s done at Kentucky,” Smart said this week. “It’s one of those things that I hope they appreciate what he’s done because he’s done some incredible things. Broken some records up there, been extremely competitive in our league, and that’s not necessarily by record. I mean, it is by record sometimes, but the games that he’s been in and the way they’ve played is incredible.
“You can tell he inspires his team to play extremely hard and they’re always physical. I just have so much respect for Mark because I know his history. We kind of grew up the same way. Coach’s son, defense coordinator, has been some good places, got a head job and he’s worked his tail off.”
Smart called Stoops, now the SEC’s longest-tenured football coach, one of his best friends in the coaching industry because of how long they’ve been in the league together. The two communicate regularly, he said.
Stoops’ Kentucky teams have occasionally played Smart’s Bulldogs closely — three of the past five meetings were decided by 11 or fewer points — but Kentucky has lost 15 straight in the series and even in the games that were relatively close on the scoreboard, UK rarely seemed a threat to actually win.
Last season’s game was the exception to that trend, though. Kentucky led for the entire third quarter and had a late drive with a chance to take the lead. But facing fourth-and-8 at the Georgia 47-yard line with 3:02 remaining, Stoops elected to punt. Georgia then gained two first downs to end UK’s hopes of getting the ball back.
With Georgia coming off a loss to Alabama, it will be interesting to see if Smart is more aggressive than he has been at times against Kentucky.
“Obviously environment will be different (than last year),” defensive coordinator Brad White said. “They get to operate in a home environment, so they don’t have to deal with crowd noise. Last year, the crowd was awesome and really helped. I think that it’s a completely sort of different scenario.”
Another test for offensive line
Kentucky’s rebuilt offensive line is clearly improved from a year ago, especially in run blocking, but the South Carolina game raised concerns about the ability of the tackles to hold up against elite NFL-prospect-level edge rushers.
South Carolina sacked Cutter Boley six times. Kentucky has now surrendered nine sacks in its two SEC games.
“We struggled at times, technique-wise,” Stoops said of the tackles at South Carolina. “Assignment-wise, we were pretty good, for the majority of the night. You have to be at 100% though. We weren’t that. Technique-wise, some guys were fighting it a bit, and a bit off, and can play better. And we need them to.”
Both UK’s starting tackles, Shiyazh Pete and Alex Wollschlaeger, brought extensive college experience to Lexington after playing at New Mexico State and Bowling Green respectively, but the risk in signing linemen from smaller programs was they might struggle against SEC competition.
Georgia does rank 14th of 16 teams in the SEC in sacks (four), but the roster remains supremely talented.
“I think the quarterback’s time clock will be quicker, just naturally after feeling what those hits feel like,” offensive cooridnator Bush Hamdan said. “I think we know the urgency of what needs to happen from blitz pickup. And certainly it’s on me, on that right piece of how aggressive to be, non-aggressive to be, what plan gives us the best chance to win the game.”
Kentucky football injury report
The key injury to watch for UK this week is junior cornerback D.J. Waller, who has missed the past three games with a hamstring injury. Stoops initially expressed optimism that Waller would be back in time for last week’s game against South Carolina, but he again did not play. UK listed Waller as questionable on the SEC-mandated availability report throughout the week then declared him a game-time decision on Saturday.
“It’s one of those injuries that, with a hamstring, that’s touchy,” Stoops said. “It’s very frustrating for him. He’s worked very hard, and you heard us talking a lot about him in the camp and throughout the summer. … For guys that have never been through that before, you try to educate him and help him and talk through it about how you feel like you’re OK, but then the minute you have to cover somebody and open it up, it’s just a different deal. So we’ll continue to gauge that.”
Right tackle Alex Wollschlaeger was not on the initial availability report Wednesday but was listed as questionable as of Friday. He also was listed as a game-time decision on Saturday. Kentucky is not particularly deep on the offensive line, so losing Wollschlaeger for period would be a blow. Sophomore Malachi Wood is the top backup tackle.
UK listed defensive backs Nasir Addison and Jaden Smith, wide receivers Preston Bowman and David Washington, tight end Elijah Brown and defensive lineman Nic Smith as out on the availability report. Running back Jamarion Wilcox remains suspended after his recent arrest. Quarterback Zach Calzada (shoulder) was initially listed as probable then removed from the report, indicating he is available.
Kentucky vs. Georgia prediction
There’s no reason to expect Kentucky to win this game. The question is whether it will be one of those Kentucky-Georgia games that is played relatively close despite the talent gap. The guess here is Georgia will be looking to make a statement after the Alabama loss. Georgia 31, Kentucky 6.
The last word
“We self-scout and we look and we want to throw it down the field, but there’s a lack of efficiency right now in us throwing it down the field. Numerous reasons why. That’s what we’re looking to clean up. But again, we got to throw and catch better. That’s pretty obvious.” — Hamdan on passing struggles.
This story was originally published October 3, 2025 at 6:30 AM.
