ATHENS — Georgia football coach Kirby Smart is keeping one eye on the weather report and another on Kentucky game film with Saturday night’s Homecoming Game fast approaching.
The No. 10-ranked Bulldogs (5-1, 2-1 SEC) play host to the Wildcats (3-3, 1-3) at 6 p.m. on Saturday (TV: ESPN) looking to shake off a historic upset loss to South Carolina last week.
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“Every player was sick about the performance, just like the coaches,” Smart said Thursday night on his radio show.
“I’ve always said sometimes the worst thing you can do is play bad and win, because you don’t learn the things you need to learn.”
No doubt, Georgia’s offense sputtered against Power 5 competition the first half of the season, even as the Bulldogs were building a 5-0 record and rising to No. 3 in the ranks.
The Bulldogs’ offensive objectives and fixes have been well-documented this week as concerns about a wet-weather game have risen.
Smart, known for his detailed-oriented nature, typically likes for Georgia to get wet weather work in practices whenever possible.
“I’m concerned about the weather conditions, because you never know what they will be, it’s not a variable you can control,” Smart said. “I like going in the rain once every two or three weeks, but if it’s lighting, I can’t.
“But we have wet ball drill and we do it once every two weeks, it’s on a rolling schedule, so even if you’ve gone two or three weeks without a wet practice,” he said. “We spray the ball down, and make the quarterbacks and receivers catch it, throw it, exchange it, (and) kickers, holders, snappers … everybody has to. We were doing it (Thursday), spraying it down, making it as hard as possible”
The current forecast for Saturday’s kickoff (as of Friday) reflected a 100-percent chance of rain in Athens at 6 p.m., with the likelihood of precipitation not tapering off until 9 p.m.
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