Bulldogs seek15th straight win over Kentucky
The Georgia Bulldogs are ranked No. 1 nationally and chasing their third national championship in four years, while the Kentucky Wildcats are coming off a 31-6 home loss to South Carolina.
Kirby Smart is not buying the narrative that Saturday night’s game at Kroger Field (7:30 on ABC) will be over not long after it kicks off.
“I think it’s all in how you perceive things,” Smart said Monday during his weekly news conference in Athens. “They are just as dangerous whether they had won or lost that game, in my opinion, and we’re going to prepare the same way regardless of what happened. A lot of things went wrong quickly for them in that game, and it snowballed in some ways.
“I know what they’re capable of. I’ve seen them on tape. I know the football players they have. I know how physical they are. I know how they’re coached, and we’ve got to get ready for a really tough opponent.”
Georgia will head to Lexington later this week seeking a 15th consecutive victory over the Wildcats, which would be the 12th straight with Mark Stoops as Kentucky’s coach. Their matchups in Athens have largely been laughers, punctuated by Georgia’s 51-13 blowout last season, but the past four games at Kroger Field have produced more competitive scores of 27-24, 34-17, 14-3 and 16-6.
The three-point win in 2016 was decided by Rodrigo Blankenship’s 25-yard field goal as time expired.
“I have immense respect for Mark,” Smart said. “He and I have grown to be really good friends. He’s one of the best in the business. He’s done a tremendous job at Kentucky over the time he’s been there. His teams are always very disciplined and very physical, and that’s a really tough place to play.
“As you can see from every time we’ve played there, it’s been really tough.”
Smart is early in his ninth season at Georgia and has guided the Bulldogs to an eyepopping 41 straight regularseason victories. Stoops has won more games than any coach in Kentucky history
with his 74-66 record, but the Wildcats are just 2-7 in their last nine SEC contests at home.
The Bulldogs will encounter two very familiar faces in Lexington, with former Georgia backup quarterback Brock Vandagriff and former linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson now serving as prominent pieces for the Wildcats. Vandagriff threw for three touchdowns in Kentucky’s weather-shortened 31-0 rout of Southern Miss on Aug. 31, but he was just 3-of-10 passing for 30 yards and was intercepted once and sacked four times against the Gamecocks.
“I have a lot of respect for Brock, his dad and his family,” Smart said. “What Brock did for this university was awesome. He was a wonderful teammate and just a great kid. He always put the team first and would do anything to help the team, and he really helped our culture while he was here. I have a lot of appreciation for what he did. In fact, he graduated from here.”
Said Georgia senior linebacker Chaz Chambliss: “What he did last week doesn’t guarantee what he’s going to do his week, and what we did last week doesn’t guarantee what we’re going to do this week.”
Dumas-Johnson, a senior, has six tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and an interception through Kentucky’s 1-1 start.
“There is just a lot of excitement in playing an SEC opponent on the road,” Smart said. “We get an opportunity to play at night on the road, and we know the environment is going to be really loud. We’ve got to prepare for a tough, really physical game, and it’s that way every time we play Kentucky.”
Weather report
The remnants of Tropical Storm Francine could impact several games this weekend, with Lexington projected to have an 85% chance of rain both Friday and Saturday.
“We looked at it last night and start tracking it each and every day,” Smart said. “Every two weeks, we practice with wet balls like we’re going to play in the rain. We’ve been able to practice a couple times this year in the rain.
“Typically it’s later in the year we play them, and typically it’s much colder.”
Bulldogs bites
Georgia holds a 63-12-2 series advantage against Kentucky. … Junior tight end Oscar Delp suffered an ankle injury in Saturday’s 48-3 over Tennessee Tech but is fine according to Smart. … Smart on junior defensive end Mykel Williams and his ankle injury: “He’s got to be able to practice. He’s got to be able to go out and compete and run, put pressure on it. He’s doing a great job of rehab. He did a great job this weekend of getting extra time in, and we’ll see where he’s at.”