ESPN analyst says Saturday’s Kentucky-Georgia football game will decide SEC East
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One of ESPN’s top college football analysts believes there will be a lot on the line Saturday night in Athens.
“I think (this) weekend is for the SEC East championship, Kentucky and Georgia,” said former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy on his “Always College Football” podcast.
McElroy teams with Sean McDonough as ESPN’s No. 2 broadcast team for college football, behind the No. 1 team of Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit. McElroy, McDonough and Molly McGrath will be the ESPN broadcast team for UK-Georgia at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
On his podcast, McElroy raved about Kentucky’s performance in the Wildcats’ 33-14 victory over visiting Florida last Saturday at Kroger Field.
“Ray Davis is this year’s Quinshon Judkins,” said McElroy of the UK running back who rushed for 280 yards in the victory over the Gators. “And what I mean by that, is that last year early in the Ole Miss season, no one really knew anything about Quinshon Judkins. Kind of an underrecruited guy from Montgomery, somehow Lane Kiffin was able to get him. And then boom! It’s like, ‘This guy’s unbelievable, right. This guy’s amazing.’
“That’s kind of what Ray Davis is right now. He was at Vanderbilt. He transferred to Kentucky and you’re like, ‘Who is this guy, Ray Davis? He’s pretty decent.’ Well now the world knows.”
The victory over Florida — UK’s third straight over the Gators and fourth in the last six years — convinced McElroy that the Wildcats are Georgia’s top competition in the East.
“I think those two teams right now — and I love what Missouri has done; Tennessee looked much better this week, but right now the two best teams in the SEC East are the Georgia Bulldogs and the Kentucky Wildcats,” McElroy said. “So I really think the SEC East will be decided on the field in Athens on Saturday night.”
In fact, early in the podcast, McElroy argued that Kentucky isn’t receiving enough respect from Associated Press poll voters.
“One other thing of significance is Kentucky has entered the rankings for the first time this year at 20,” McElroy said. “They were one of two teams to enter the poll this week. But I ask the AP poll voters this: If Kentucky wore a different uniform, or if Kentucky say for instance was named, I don’t know, Penn State? Would they only be 20?
“Because that was a thorough dismantling of a team along the line of scrimmage, offensively and defensively, and to move up into the poll and get to 20? To me, it felt a little bit disrespectful and I would imagine that Mark Stoops will use that when they take the field this week against the Georgia Bulldogs.”
This story was originally published October 4, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
