The Georgia Bulldogs will kick off their highly anticipated SEC play tomorrow night as they are traveling to Lexington, Kentucky to take on the Kentucky Wildcats. The Dawgs head into this with a firm hold on their number one ranking as Georgia currently has a 2-0 record as they have outscored their first two opponents by a total of 82-6 as the Georgia defense has yet to allow a touchdown. Kentucky comes into this one with quite the different narrative as they currently stand at 1-1 on the young season as they are coming off of a rough 31-6 loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks. Saturday night’s game is slated for a 7:30 kick-off and can be viewed on ABC and ESPN+.
Kentucky run game vs. Georgia defense
Former Dawg, Brock Vandagriff has so far shown inconsistent play at the Quarterback position for the Wildcats. In week one he turned in a decent outing against Southern Miss where he completed 12 of 18 passes for 169 yards and three touchdowns with just one interception. The following week against South Carolina, Vandagriff turned in nothing short of a disappointing showing. Vandagriff struggled against the Gamecocks as he only completed three of ten passes for 30 yards, throwing one interception as he finished the night with a lackluster 1.2 QBR. With Kentucky’s pass game struggling to find their way, it’s pretty apparent that they will lean heavily on their run game. The Wildcats like to give multiple players a decent amount of carries in the game as five or more players have received carries out of the backfield through the first two weeks of the season. Senior running-back, Demie Sumo-Karngbaye is the head catalyst of that running-back room as he currently has 25 carries on the season for 129 yards and one touchdown while averaging 5.2 yards per carry. Alongside Sumo-Karngbaye, is Freshmen running-back Jason Patterson. Patterson is more of a shifty back as he pairs well with Sumo-Karngbaye’s physical style of running, Patterson currently has 14 carries on the year for 73 yards as he also averages 5.2 yards per carry.
While Kentucky will more than likely lean heavily on the run game, the Dawgs should be well equipped to stop it. Through two games, the Dawgs’ defense has only allowed 162 rushing yards as neither Clemson or Tennessee Tech averaged more than 2.9 yards per carry. A lot of that success can be attributed to Georgia’s D-line as Nazir Stackhouse, Christen Miller, and Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins have done a solid job patrolling the trenches. With those guys doing their job, it has created a lot of opportunities for Georgia’a linebackers to come downhill and make physical tackles as Jalon Walker, C.J. Allen, Raylen Wilson, and Smael Mondon are all off to a solid start this season.
If Georgia stops the run as expected, Kentucky will eventually take their shots in the passing game but there’s a low chance they have any success there either. As mentioned earlier, Brock Vandagriff is struggling and Georgia’s secondary is as talented as ever. Malaki Starks, K.J. Bolden, Ellis Robinson IV, and a few more have all played lock-down football through the first two games as this Georgia secondary has only allowed 160 passing yards on the young season as no quarterback has averaged more than 4.9 yards per attempt against them.
Georgia offense breakdown
Georgia’s offense heads into this one absolutely rolling as they are coming off of a week two performance where they put up 498 total yards. Carson Beck has so far played up to his Heisman expectations as he has completed 41 of 58 pass attempts for 520 yards and seven touchdowns. Beck has done an incredible job of spreading the ball out to multiple Dawgs this season as nine or more guys recorded a reception in both of the first two games. Senior receiver, Arian Smith has been the top receiver for Georgia this year as it seems he is finally having his breakout season. Smith currently has nine receptions for 129 yards and one touchdown as he averages 14.3 yards per catch as he is certainly establishing himself as a major vertical threat. To go along with this dominant Dawgs’ passing attack, is their versatile and deep backfield. Georgia’s run game has totaled 335 yards on the ground through the first two games as Trevor Etienne, Nate Frazier, and Branson Robinson are quite the trio back there as they provide the perfect mix of power and speed. It still isn’t known when Sophomore running-back, Roderick Robinson will return from his turf toe injury as he will definitely add more production to an already loaded Dawgs’ run game when he returns.
Prediction
With that being said, expect for this Dawgs’ team to go into Lexington and create a physical game in the trenches as they will more than likely control all sides of the ball and dominate. Final score prediction: UGA-38 UK-7
As always, Go Dawgs!