ATHENS — Back in August, Georgia’s final SEC game looked like it had the potential to be an SEC East championship game. Kentucky had won 10 games a season ago and brought back a host of key contributors, including quarterback Will Levis.
Entering Saturday’s game, Georgia held up its end of the bargain as the Bulldogs enter the game with an 11-0 record. But the SEC East was officially wrapped up last week with Georgia’s 45-19 win over Mississippi State.
Kentucky meanwhile comes stumbling into the game off a home loss to Vanderbilt
“Hopefully we come out with our piss hot next week and have some motivation against a good team,” Levis said after the loss to the Commodores. “It’s a shame we can’t do that when we’re playing a team like Vanderbilt.
“Yeah, we’re going to be up, we’re going to be ready to play (against Georgia). I’m not going to be worried about that. The fact that we can’t get ready to play for some lower games is frustrating.”
Related: Georgia football is more than confident Stetson Bennett can outplay Kentucky quarterback Will Levis
Vanderbilt had not won an SEC game since the 2019 season. The Wildcats now sit at 6-4 on the season, a far cry from the double-digit wins the team aspired for.
Still, Georiga is confident it will get Kentucky’s best shot when it makes its way onto Kroger Field on Saturday. Head coach Kirby Smart was already worried about the Wildcats moments after the game against Mississippi State ended, with the Wildcats not having to travel this past weekend.
Add in the past games against Kentucky which have usually been low-scoring and extra physical and Smart is confident the Wildcats will put forth a much better effort this time around.
Kentucky has almost always been up to matching Georgia’s physicality. With game temperatures expected to be in the 30s, Smart knows his team will have to put forth its best effort to knock out a wounded Kentucky team.
“The kids that have played against Kentucky, it’s been a bloodbath, man,” Smart said. “Like, the game last year was so physical, so tough, rugged and they run a lot of physical runs, we like to run a lot of physical runs, and you end up just clanging against each other. When you come out of the game, you’re really sore. So, that was that way that 14-3 or whatever game it was, maybe up there in 2020. Man, we had guys dropping like flies, it was just really physical.
“So, our guys respect Kentucky, I respect Coach Stoops and what they did last week has no relevance to what they’ll do this week.”
Related: How Georgia football-LSU SEC championship game will impact College Football Playoff
Georgia has said all the right things this week about focusing on Kentucky and not peeking ahead to the SEC championship game matchup against LSU set for Dec. 3. Of course, Kentucky was saying all the right things a week ago before it went and lost at home to Vanderbilt.
As Smart often says, humility is just a week away. Kentucky learned that lesson the hard way last week.
More Georgia football stories from around DawgNation
- UGA can accomplish rare feat vs. Kentucky
- Stetson Bennett changes nickname but expects to deliver same product on field
- Why AD Mitchell’s injury has lingered for so long and when he might return to the field: ‘I don’t think he’s worried’
- The big reasons the 2022 Georgia football defense is getting better at the perfect time
- Kentucky defensive coordinator: Georgia football’s Stetson Bennett ‘best QB, probably, we’ve faced all year’
- Georgia football defense excited to stuff Kentucky offense: ‘We’ll be able to play physical with them’
- Georgia football is more than confident Stetson Bennett can outplay Kentucky quarterback Will Levis
- CFP Committee defends Georgia at No. 1, compares to Ohio State and Michigan
