Dawg Debate: Is A Trap Game Looming In Bourbon Country?

Welcome to Dawg Debate, where two of our writers tackle a hot topic of debate heading into Georgia’s next game on the schedule.

This week, Macon Dawg and Lugnut Dawg look toward the Kentucky game and weigh the question – is this week a trap game for the Classic City Canines, or not?

Lugnut Dawg: Of course, it’s a trap game. Do you realize how many of us listened to Larry Munson?

Did Georgia look really good the last two weeks? Yes. Did Kentucky look punchless last week in the boil on the face of humanity that is Columbia, SC? Also yes.

Will any of that help Georgia win on Saturday night in Lexington? Absolutely not.

This may not be the most hostile environment that the Dawgs will play in this fall, but it will be the toughest one that they have faced to date. Not only will Georgia be playing on the road against a juiced-up crowd, but it’ll also be at night.

Remember, two years ago Georgia had its ‘find itself’ moment on the road against Mizzou. That game? Amid an amped-up crowd in the SEC on a Saturday night. Georgia has had some very good teams through the years to have struggled in Bluegrass Country, sometimes for a half or so and other times to the final moments.

If you have any shred of Larry Munson in you, you will find something to worry about with each game, and in the case of Saturday, that exists for the Bulldogs. If a handful of breaks go badly early on, Georgia could be in for a bruiser of a night on the road.

Macon Dawg: The only trap Dawg fans should worry about is not racking up enough Kroger Fuel Points on the drive up

We’re still in that weird early part of the season when college football teams’ relative strength hasn’t really crystallized yet. Clemson for example was dominated by Georgia, looking feckless on offense, then scored 66 points in three quarters against Appalachian State.

Likewise, Kentucky looked great in a season-opening 31-0 shortened blowout of Southern Miss. But they were utterly dominated last week in a 31-6 loss at South Carolina. Of particular concern was the Wildcat offense, which was a paltry 3 of 14 on 3rd down, 0 for 2 on 4th, and amassed only 188 yards of offense. Brock Vandagriff struggled mightily behind a porous offensive line, completing 3 of 10 passes for 30 yards. By the time you net out the -29 yards attributable to him for sacks, the Bogart Boogeyman produced exactly 1 yard of total offense.

That’s not bad. It’s tragihorrorsuperbad.

Perhaps worse, the game was only a 10-6 affair at halftime. Meaning the ‘Cats gave up 21 unanswered points in the second half. Failure to adjust? Lack of conditioning? I’m not sure the answer, but either way it’s bad.

What’s worse, Kentucky coach Mark Stoops seems to know it.

Bulldog fans have long had a sense that Lexington is a difficult place to play. That sense is belied by the numbers, however. Since defeating LSU at home in their 10 win 2021 campaign the Wildcats are 2-8 against SEC opponents at Kroger Field. They’ve lost eight in a row in Lexington to the Bulldogs, and haven’t beaten Georgia anywhere since the 2009 game in which Joe Cox managed to throw a pick six on a four yard screen pass (not that I’m still bitter).

These ‘Cats aren’t wild. They’re pleasantly mild. A short list of things that worry me more than the 2024 Kentucky Wildcats:

1. My cholesterol
2. Process servers
3. Ocean warming
4. The price of tickets for the Black Crowes reunion tour.
5. Ebola
6. The undefeated Vanderbilt Commodores, who I assume we will see either in the SEC Championship Game or the College Football Playoff.

The only trap to this game will be the speed traps up I-75 through Tennessee on the way to the game. ‘Dawgs roll, 41-10.