ATHENS — Doughnuts probably aren’t the most nutritious pregame meal.

But Georgia wide receiver London Humphreys still suggested it anyway ahead of a noon kickoff against Kentucky.

“You kind of wake up, eat a doughnut, play some football, like you did when you were a kid,” Humphreys said. “I’m a fan of them, honestly, the noon games. You get out there and just get to play. There’s not too much time to think.”

Georgia made it clear this week it wants to flush the 24-21 loss to Alabama from when it last took the field. The Bulldogs don’t want one loss to lead to more.

Humphreys is not alone in being eager for the rare noon kickoff for Georgia. This will be the first noon start of the season for the Bulldogs, despite playing lesser foes such as Marshall and Austin Peay to open the season.

“Man, if I could play right now, I would, you know what I’m saying? Like, if I go out there and play right now, I would. But like I said, preparation is needed,” defensive lineman Jordan Hall said. “We need preparation. We need to go review the game, what we did wrong, what we did right.”

Georgia knows it has plenty to work on in between the loss to Alabama and Saturday’s start against Kentucky. Ball security, pass blocking, affecting the quarterback and so much more.

The Bulldogs are a big favorite over the Wildcats this weekend, as Georgia is just under a three-touchdown favorite.

Of course, Georgia was a big favorite the last time it played Kentucky and the Bulldogs only escaped with a 13-12 win.

These Wildcats have dropped their first two SEC games of the season, including a 35-13 road defeat to South Carolina last week.

But this is still a Mark Stoops-coached team. One that Kirby Smart knows will be physical. No matter what time of day the game is played.

“Every time we play Kentucky, we always say it’s one of the most physical games of the year,” Smart said. “I think all SEC games are physical, but this one over the years, doing about a nine- or 10-year history, whatever it’s been, it’s been super physical, a lot of runs, been some tough weather games, been some really tight battles, some low-scoring battles.”

Smart has won all nine of those battles, as he has never lost to Kentucky since becoming the head coach at Georgia.

Still, Stoops brings plenty to the table. He’s the only SEC coach who has been at his school longer than Smart. Stoops is in the middle of his 13th season at Kentucky.

All of that familiarity gives Georgia a pretty good idea of what will be headed it’s why bright and early on Saturday.

“We got to go play a really good football team, so I’m not concerned about it,” Smart said. “I’m glad that they were affected and hurt. There’s a lot of college football teams right now that got teams that the kids don’t care.”

We’ll get a pretty good idea of just how much the Georgia program cares coming off its latest loss to Alabama.

When Georgia returned home last year after losing in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the Bulldogs hosted an Auburn team that already had multiple losses to that point in the season.

The team pushed its way to a 31-13 victory but Smart was far from thrilled about the atmosphere inside Sanford Stadium.

That Auburn was a rival perhaps lit a fire under Smart as far as what he saw. Kentucky is far from that, as Georgia has won 15 consecutive games against the Wildcats.

Despite that track record of success, Smart takes nothing for granted.

“I worry about everything,” Smart said when asked about a sleepy start to Saturday’s game. “I worry about everything. You know me? I worry about everything.”

Given slow starts have now become a multiyear issue for Georgia, getting up and going will be something to watch for on Saturday. The Bulldogs have given up back-to-back touchdown drives to open both SEC games thus far. The last time Georgia led at halftime of an SEC game came against Texas last October.

Defensively, Georgia knows it has to be able to get off the field on third down. On the offensive side of the ball, executing on third down would go a long way in this group not having to play catch-up in the second quarter and beyond.

If you asked most college football fans, they’d say they despise noon games. They want to soak up the fall Saturdays before going in to watch a big game.

Georgia fans won’t have that opportunity on Saturday. Instead, they’ll have to rise early and see if the lessons learned from the Alabama loss took.

Or if these Bulldogs have simply hit the snooze button once again.

“The late games, you have all day to think,” Humphreys said. “It’s a good thing, too. You can prepare and figure out any last-minute details. But the noon games are fun. You just wake up and go.”