Blue Preview: Your guide to Kentucky’s football game at Georgia
Kentucky at No. 10 Georgia
When: 6 p.m., Saturday (Oct. 19)
Where: Sanford Stadium (capacity 92,746) in Athens, Ga.
TV: ESPN (play-by-play, Jason Benetti; analysis, Rod Gilmore; sideline, Quint Kessenich)
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1, XM Channel 387
Records: Kentucky (3-3, 1-3 SEC); Georgia (5-1, 2-1 SEC)
Series history: Georgia leads 58-12-2 and has won nine in a row
Last meeting: No. 6 Georgia beat No. 11 Kentucky 34-17 on Nov. 3, 2018, at Kroger Field in a game that decided the SEC East champion.
Line: Georgia is favored by 25 points.
The story line
Off a 24-20 win over struggling Arkansas, Kentucky travels to Georgia to face the No. 10 Bulldogs one week after South Carolina pinned a stunning 20-17, double-overtime defeat on the Dawgs. That loss cost Kirby Smart’s team seven spots in the AP poll and figures to have left Georgia in a gnarly mood. What figured to be a gargantuan challenge for UK anyway is presumably only heightened by facing what figures to be an acutely motivated foe.
The big threat
Georgia’s running game. South Carolina contained the Bulldogs’ normally potent rushing attack well enough that Georgia QB Jake Fromm was forced to throw a whopping 52 times (he completed 28 with three interceptions). Expect Georgia offensive coordinator James Coley to emphasize getting a running game led by D’Andre Swift and Zamir White cranked up again vs. UK. Last year, against a far better Kentucky defense than the current one, the Bulldogs ran for a robust 331 yards against the Wildcats.
On the spot
Eddie Gran. The decision last winter by the Kentucky offensive coordinator to turn down a reported offer of a similar position at Georgia seemed to leave some ill will in Athens. It will be interesting to see if Georgia tries to send Gran a message Saturday.
The mood
Has perked up. Lynn Bowden’s stellar showing in his first Kentucky start at quarterback in last week’s win over Arkansas injected some juice into a UK season that had gone stale. Only the most optimistic Kentucky backers expect the Wildcats to win in Athens. However, UK turning in a competitive effort would likely have a positive effect on fan engagement for the second half of the Kentucky football season.
This story was originally published October 14, 2019 at 11:33 AM.
