Things to know: Georgia football looks for growth against Kentucky
ATHENS — Georgia football coach Kirby Smart told everyone who would listen that this would be a young Georgia football team, with 54% of its roster made up of first- or second-year players.
Those growing pains were evident in the 24-21 loss to Alabama on Saturday when freshman receiver Talyn Taylor dropped a sure-fire touchdown pass and freshmen offensive linemen Juan Gaston and Dontrell Glover faltered on a pivotal fourth-and-1 play that could have produced a go-ahead touchdown.
The No. 12-ranked Bulldogs (3-1, 1-1 SEC) are hoping those costly lessons translate to valuable experience as the season progresses with a home game at noon Saturday against Kentucky.
“You show confidence in them, you love on them, you discipline them,” Smart said at his news conference this week, asked how he prevents young players from hanging their heads after costly in-game mistakes. “You grow them.”
Georgia, in a roster reload after 13 players from last season’s team were selected in the NFL draft and other would-be starters and contributors left via the transfer portal, has no choice but to make the best with what it has.
First-year starter Gunner Stockton ranks 11th among SEC quarterbacks in pass efficiency and looks to find more consistency in the pass game when not handing off to what has proved to be a deep and talented stable of running backs.
The Wildcats, meanwhile, are hoping quarterback Zach Calzada is ready to return from the shoulder injury that sidelined him in the fourth quarter of Kentucky’s Week 2 30-23 loss to No. 4-ranked Ole Miss.
Calzada is a former Lanier High School standout who is in his seventh season of collegiate football. Calzada began his career at Texas A&M before transferring to Auburn, Incarnate Word, and most recently, Kentucky.
The Wildcats (2-2, 0-2) were not competitive last week in a 35-13 loss at South Carolina without Calzada.
Backup quarterback Cutter Boley was stripped of the ball on a sack, and the Gamecocks returned it 41 yards for a touchdown, and then two plays later had a pass intercepted that was returned 45 yards for a touchdown that put South Carolina in control.
Here are things to know about Saturday’s Kentucky-Georgia game
When: Noon, Saturday
Where: Sanford Stadium (cap. 93,033)
Rankings and records: No. 12 Georgia (3-1, 1-1 SEC); Kentucky (2-2, 0-2)
TV/radio: ABC/Georgia Bulldog Sports Network and SiriusXM 84
Weather: Partly cloudy with a high of 76 degrees, low 70s at kickoff
Series: Georgia leads 64-12-2. Georgia won in Lexington last season, 13-12.
Key injuries: Georgia — offensive tackle Earnest Greene lll (back) is out; TE Ethan Barbour (ankle) is out; Kentucky — quarterback Zach Calzada (shoulder) is probable; cornerback DJ Waller (hamstring) is questionable; linebacker Devin Smith (undisclosed) is questionable; offensive lineman Aba Selm (undisclosed) is questionable.
Last meeting: Last season, Georgia came from behind to win a 13-12 nail-biter in Lexington on the strength of Branson Robinson’s go-ahead touchdown run with 12:20 left in the fourth quarter that made the score 13-9. The Wildcats kicked a field goal on the game’s next possession to close the gap to 13-12, but former UGA quarterback turned Kentucky transfer Brock Vandagriff could not get Kentucky past midfield the remainder of the game.
Betting line: Georgia opened as a 20.5-point favorite as of Friday.
Tickets: The game is sold out. Tickets on the secondary market have been selling this week at more than face value, starting at $94 in the upper level and $111 each in the lower deck.
Storylines for Saturday’s Georgia-Kentucky game
Last time at No. 1: When Georgia took to Kroger Field at Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington for its third game of the 2024 season, few would have guessed it would be the final time of the 2024 season the Bulldogs would hold the top spot in the AP Top 25. The Bulldogs’ 13-12 win was not impressive enough for the pollsters, who moved Texas into the top spot ahead of Georgia. The Bulldogs fell as low as No. 11 in the Top 25 after suffering their second loss of the season at Ole Miss. Georgia finished No. 6 in the Top 25.
Bouncing back: Kirby Smart is 16-3 as Georgia’s head coach following a loss and hasn’t lost back-to-back games in a regular season since his first year as the Bulldogs head coach in 2016.
Blue streak: Georgia ended its school-record 33-game home win streak with the 24-21 defeat at the hands of Alabama, but the Bulldogs have another streak on the line Saturday, as they have beaten Kentucky 15 consecutive times in what has been an annual series since 1956. With a new SEC scheduling model in place starting in 2026, Georgia won’t play Kentucky again after Saturday until 2027, in Lexington.
Slow-start trend: Georgia has allowed six of its past eight Power Four conference opponents to score the first touchdown, dating to last season. In two SEC games this season, Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar completed his first 14 passes as the Volunteers charged to a 21-7 lead in Knoxville, while Alabama’s Ty Simpson led the Tide to touchdowns on their first two drives and converted on his first eight third-down plays.
Defensive failings: Georgia ranks 21st in the nation against the run (91.2 yards per game), 43rd in scoring defense (19.5), 47th in total defense (324 yards per game) and 96th in pass efficiency defense (141.18 rating).
Those are not the sort of numbers Smart is known for with his defenses, but only three starters remain from last year’s starting defense: cornerback Daylen Everette, defensive tackle Christen Miller and linebacker CJ Allen.
About the Author
Mike is in his eighth season covering SEC and Georgia athletics for AJC-DawgNation and has 30 years of collegiate sports multimedia experience, 25 of them in the SEC including beat writer stops at Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee and now Georgia. Mike was named the National FWAA Beat Writer of the Year in January, 2018.
