Georgia's home losing streak is going to stop at one game. It has very little to do with how the Dawgs are playing, but rather who is coming into Sanford Stadium to take their biennial beating. That would be the lowly Kentucky Wildcats, a team that has not beaten Georgia since 2009. To date, Mark Stoops has never beaten his team's annual foe since taking over in Lexington way back in 2013. That is wild!
What is even wilder is how Georgia is probably going to do it. Yes, it will be their porous pass defense tasked with neutralizing the forever inert passing offense of Kentucky. This would a great opportunity for Gunner Stockton and the boys to hang half a hundred on Stoops' Wildcats defense. Of course, this is rarely how this plays out. Georgia will play with its food on offense before eventually winning it.
It did not stop Bill Connelly ranking Kentucky dead last at No. 68 in Power Four quarterback rooms.
- Total QBR: 25.4
- Passing Yards: 636
- Rushing Yards: 89
- Total Touchdowns: 3
Between Cutter Boley and Zach Calzada, nothing is going right for Bush Hamdan's Kentucky offense. Connelly pointed out that Boley did throw for 240 yards on Eastern Michigan, but that accounts for more than a third of the Wildcats' air yardage. Surely, Georgia will give up a dumb play or two through the air, but Kentucky does not have the on-field generals to effectively more the football downfield.
It is why taking care of the football is of such tremendous priority for Georgia coming into this one.
Georgia is not going to overlook Kentucky because of the Alabama loss
Had Georgia beaten Alabama Between the Hedges last Saturday, it would have been almost a foregone conclusion that the Dawgs would have overlooked Kentucky. Because Georgia lost another heartbreaker to the Crimson Tide, this time by three points, Kirby Smart's team is going to be more locked in playing Kentucky than it has at any point in recent games, especially after last year's scare.
The good news is even if this one does go sideways, Georgia has the horses to win this in the final minutes if it has to. What would be great for the Georgia program is to beat an SEC opponent soundly during regulation. It has been a minute since the Dawgs have done that going up against Power Four competition. This growing trend is not sustainable. It may be a coincidence, but it has to change now.
Ultimately, Georgia has at least eight more games to prove to the Selection Committee that the 2025 Bulldogs belong in the College Football Playoff field. While the data suggests they probably will get in, the Dawgs can really only afford one more loss on the year. That would have to be at home to either Ole Miss or Texas, not both. While one can happen on the road, they cannot lose another home game.
Anything short of a multi-score victory over Kentucky at home should be a major cause for concern.