How can Kentucky upset Georgia on Saturday? Gary Danielson gives his keys.

Doing his prep work for Saturday’s Kentucky-Georgia football game on CBS, Gary Danielson sees two football teams whose similarities go beyond strong defenses.

What sticks out when Danielson puts on film for 11th-ranked Kentucky?

“Their competitiveness, No. 1,” said the network’s longtime game analyst. “It’s a group of guys that are trying to turn a program and it’s important to them that they feel they have a good team and they want to prove it.”

And what about the home team, No. 1-ranked Georgia?

“They are a really focused, hungry team this year,” Danielson said. “They remind me of the 2019 LSU team.”

The combination makes for an SEC East showdown for the 3:30 p.m. kickoff in Athens. Kentucky is 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the SEC. Georgia is 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the SEC. The winner assumes the driver’s seat for a berth in the conference title game.

For the 70-year-old Danielson, this is his 16th season doing the games for CBS. From 2006 through 2016, he worked with play-by-play man Verne Lundquist. The last five years, he’s teamed with Brad Nessler. As a perennial power, Georgia is a regular visitor to CBS’ marquee SEC slot. Kentucky, not so much.

But Danielson has been impressed with how Mark Stoops has built his program. And a former NFL quarterback, Danielson understands why Stoops went out and hired an NFL assistant in Liam Coen as offensive coordinator to expand on the physicality and strong running game Kentucky had established.

“The foundation was built,” Danielson said. “The next logical step was now, ‘How do we go out and get the players who can compete at the upper end?’ Even Nick Saban realized he can draw up the perfect defense and recruit all the guys, but nowadays in college football, because of the way the rules are, you have to score.”

Danielson has also been impressed with Stoops’ ability to lure transfers such as quarterback Will Levis from Penn State and wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson from Nebraska.

“This is really an interesting part of it to me about Kentucky football, it’s the exact opposite of Kentucky basketball,” he said. “Where (John) Calipari is getting five-stars and one-and-done, nobody has benefited more from the use of transfers (than UK football). I think that will continue at Kentucky.”

But what about Georgia? Stoops said Monday Kirby Smart’s team is playing at a “ridiculous level” defensively, first nationally in nearly every statistical category.

“It’s not a surprise,” Danielson said. “Georgia has always recruited at a high level. Kirby has brought the structure of developing a little bit more and even in the way they recruit, they’re a little more solid in projecting the type of player that fits their system.”

In fact, the current Bulldogs remind Danielson of Alabama’s athletes. “There are probably seven, eight, nine NFL players on that defense,” he said.

How could UK upset Georgia on Saturday?

So what must Kentucky do to have a shot of beating the Bulldogs?

“You can’t have the self-inflicted plays,” Danielson said. “Alabama had it (last week), busted coverages for touchdowns, in the scoring zone and having turnovers, six dropped passes. Before you worry about beating Georgia, you have to make sure that Kentucky doesn’t beat Kentucky.”

After that?

“Stay in the game like A&M did,” said Danielson of the Aggies’ 41-38 upset of the Tide that he called with Nessler last Saturday night on CBS. “Put the pressure on Georgia to feel like, ‘Hey, we’re No. 1. What’s going on here? Why aren’t we winning?’ That’s when you can force mistakes on the other side.”

No matter the outcome, the hope is we get that kind of game Saturday. Danielson said the high stakes and quality of play is what has made doing SEC games so enjoyable.

“I love it,” he said. “I’m getting older now and there won’t be many more left. To have a game like we had last Saturday, you get a bit sentimental, like how many more good ones are we going to have like this. Let’s hope we have another one Saturday.”

This story was originally published October 13, 2021 at 3:04 PM.

John Clay

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-472-4218

John Clay is a sports columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader. A native of Central Kentucky, he covered UK football from 1987 until being named sports columnist in 2000. He has covered 20 Final Fours and 42 consecutive Kentucky Derbys. Support my work with a digital subscription