The No. 9 Kentucky Wildcats host No. 6 Georgia on Saturday afternoon in a game that, amazingly, will decide who represents the SEC East in Atlanta.
5 reasons why Georgia vs. Kentucky could be really, really fun
The Wildcats, who haven’t won much of anything in more than 40 years, are essentially hosting the SEC East championship on CBS.
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Given how big this game is, CBS decided to select it as part of its annual doubleheader broadcast, a few hours before the Alabama-LSU mega-game in the West.
This game won’t have that game’s hype, but it might be just as fun.
1. Kentucky’s never had a stage exactly like this one.
The Wildcats haven’t been part of an SEC on CBS game since 2014, when they were playing No. 1 Mississippi State. But then, the Wildcats were unranked. (They lost, 45-31.) Before that, they hadn’t appeared in the SEC’s big game slot since 2008. Kentucky hasn’t hosted such a game since 2007, when it beat LSU in triple overtime in the wildest season ever.
“I remember the fans chanting, ‘we believe,’ from end zone to end zone,” UK quarterback Woodson told SB Nation, recalling the game. “And that’s the first time that we had ever heard that chant. So I recall everyone on the sideline having goosebumps, because you could just feel it. You could feel the tension from historically not winning those types of games.”
Even that one wasn’t a top-10 game!
2. Kentucky’s never won the East before, and this is its chance.
The SEC broke up into divisions when the title game started in 1992. UK has a 1950 SEC title and a split title from 1976, but those predated the league’s current structure (and also the entire lives of most current fans).
The stakes for the Wildcats are enormous:
The winner’s in the SEC Championship and one upset away from the Playoff. That’s a real sentence about a game involving the Kentucky Football Wildcats. Hi.
3. The Wildcats are 9.5-point underdogs, but might have one big advantage.
Georgia’s rushing defense ranks 77th per S&P+ and has allowed more than 4.6 yards per carry in all but one game this year. It just so happens that Kentucky runs the ball all the time, ranking No. 123 in pass attempts per game.
It starts with junior running back Benny Snell, who’s accounted for 935 yards and nine touchdowns so far this season, just 477 yards away from Sonny Collins’ all-time UK rushing record of 3,835 yards.
Snell can even run the Wildcat effectively, and Kentucky does it differently than most teams:
Look at who is running the jet action. It’s Wilson, the QB! You don’t see many QBs act as the jet motion man in wildcat (or any) packages. But Wilson has the speed to play receiver in the SEC if he’d wanted to, so defenses must respect him as the motion man.
Wilson has 406 yards rushing and averages 4.6 yards per carry.
Here, Kentucky is running QB power with what I think is a fake QB toss, though it could be an actual read (without knowing Kentucky’s play call, I can’t be sure). The QB and RB action help to influence the defensive end and linebackers, who step out, so if it is a read, Wilson made the right one. The receivers are in a tight set and influence the flow as well.
4. Both QBs should enter with renewed confidence, but both face top-15 pass defenses.
Bulldogs starter Jake Fromm faced criticism after his poor performance a few weeks ago against LSU. But Fromm rebounded nicely against the Gators, throwing for 240 yards and three touchdowns.
Kentucky starter Terry Wilson was benched in the second half against Missouri last week. But Wilson came back in the fourth quarter and led a weird game-winning drive in the final seconds.
“We’ll continue to explore and put our offense in the best position,” UK head coach Mark Stoops said after the game. “But it said an awful lot about (Wilson). That doesn’t surprise me, the way he responds.”
5. Watching Kentucky fans soaking this all in is gonna be awesome!
This is going to be the biggest game ever for Kentucky’s home Kroger Field to host. The 67,606-seat stadium isn’t the most intimidating place in the SEC, but you can bet UK fans will show up, just like they have all season.
“Me sitting up here, saying that it’s just another game would be lying because it is playing for the championship, it’s playing for the East,” Stoops said in a press conference ahead of the game. “That’s one of your goals at the beginning of the year, so obviously it’s a big game. But once again, our approach can’t change.”
The last time UK was an underdog at home, it won — Mississippi State was a 10-point favorite in September, and lost 28-7. UK hasn’t beaten Georgia in Lexington since 2006, but this is a different Wildcat team than years past.
Kentucky has been a doormat of the SEC for as long as most of us can remember. The Wildcats being in the national spotlight with a chance to do something they’ve never done will be awesome, and I can’t wait.
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