ATHENS — Kirby Smart is bracing his Georgia football team for its next test, a home game against a veteran group of UAB Blazers.
The Bulldogs, coming off a historic 10-3 win over Clemson last Saturday night in Charlotte, N.C., are a 25-point favorite over Alabama-Birmingham in the 3:30 p.m. (TV: ESPN2) game at Sanford Stadium.
“They’ve done a tremendous job coaching and recruiting talent and winning football games,” Smart said after challenging any presumptions from media on hand that UAB is, indeed, a quality football team.
“They’ve got a really good team. If you watch them on tape you’ll see it. When teams block punts and are good on special teams, you know they’re well-coached.”
The Blazers opened the season with a 31-0 win over FCS-Jacksonville State, out-gaining the Gamecocks 518-155 yards.
College Football News ranks UAB as the No. 63 team in the nation — one spot behind Mississippi State, and two spots behind Arkansas, for perspective. (UGA annual rival Georgia Tech is No. 103).
The ESPN “power index” ratings, which still have Georgia No. 5, have UAB ranked No. 71
The Blazers’ offensive line is one of the team strengths, returning five starters from an attack that averaged 200 yards per game on the ground last season.
Quarterback Tyler Johnston lll, who had 320 yards passing and 2 touchdowns in the win over Jacksonville State, is also back from last season. The Blazers, however lost their top rusher and top two receivers.
Defensively, UAB returns nine players from a unit that finished seventh in the country in total defense allowing 311.1 yards per game.
Smart sent the message he needs to see improvement from Georgia this week.
“A big piece of communication for our guys moving forward is discipline, (and) we talked about it today whether it is a noun or a verb,” Smart said.
“We had a lot of bad disciplined eyes, decisions, blocks, really all over.
“You’d think it was just offense, that wasn’t the case. We had a lot of busts that we didn’t see that happened during the game. Defensively, that could have cost us or haunted us if we would have been exposed on it.”
Did You Know: This UAB program beat Nick Saban at LSU in 2000, 13-10.
This week’s SEC lines
Florida (-29) at South Florida 58
Pitt (-3.5) at Tennessee 55
South Carolina at East Carolina (-2) 57.5
UAB at Georgia (-25) 44.5
Colorado at Texas A&M (-17) 52
NC State (-3) at Mississippi State 55
Texas (-7) at Arkansas 57
Missouri at Kentucky (-5) 54.5
Colorado State (-7) at Vanderbilt 51
