LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Let's just state the obvious. Hoping to "get well" against the No. 1-ranked Georgia football team is like looking for fresh air on a subway. Like hitting "Skip Ad" before the button lights up.
Some things, you just have to go through. Sometimes, conditions just aren't ripe.
Yet that's what the Kentucky football team is faced with after last week's deflating 31-6 meltdown against South Carolina. Georgia enters Kroger Field at 7:30 p.m. Saturday having not lost a regular season game since 2020 and having won 14 straight against Kentucky. The Bulldogs are consensus 22-point favorites, but that's down from a 23.5-point open. So, somebody believes. A little. In beating the big spread, at least.
Look, we're taking daylight here where it can be found.
Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops looked genuinely baffled after his offense was a no-show against South Carolina. It's difficult to remember a game in recent memory under Stoops when a Kentucky offensive line was dominated so badly – at least against a comparable opponent.
It's one thing for the media to get a projection wrong. But Kentucky was a 10-point favorite in Las Vegas. It was just the sixth time in the past 10 seasons that the Wildcats were double-digit favorites in an SEC game. (four of those against Vanderbilt, two against South Carolina.)
Yet Kentucky was plagued by operational errors, procedure calls, missed defensive assignments and other ill-timed penalties. It couldn't pick up fumbles and had communication miscues.
It's perhaps not a good sign when a coach previews a game against the No. 1 team in the country talking about just lining up correctly and getting the calls accurately. Yet that's where Kentucky is.
"We challenged them to come in with a focus early in the week, know the game plan and then hone in on it," Stoops said Thursday. "I mean, be precise. We can't make growth if we're just worrying about pre-snap, you know? We do a lot pre-snap. We can't be too consumed with that and not be able to execute. I thought that was an issue last week, and we'll improve as the year goes on and as they get more comfortable. You go through spring, you go through camp, and there's a lot of the basics and things they're used to. Then you throw in wrinkles, and you've got to be able to put that on top of it. You've got to have the capacity to be able to handle all that. We'll get better."
To quote a line from the Wes Anderson's film, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, they "sure as cuss aren't getting any worse."
Yet Kentucky has played some decent games against Georgia in recent years. Before last season's 51-13 demolition in which the Wildcats gave up 608 yards, they had beaten the spread in five straight against the Bulldogs, most notably in a 16-6 loss to a No. 1-ranked Georgia team the last time the Bulldogs visited Lexington.
It's that kind of effort Kentucky needs now, regardless of result, to erase the bad taste of an unexpected loss in its conference opener. The SEC is no place to get behind the sticks, and with Kentucky's next league game coming at No. 5-ranked Ole Miss (after a game on Sept. 21 against Ohio), things do not get any easier.
Stoops said he has confidence in Georgia transfer Brock Vandagrift, who was pulled from last week's loss.
"We've got to give him some time (to throw)," Stoops said, referring to his offensive line struggles.
He said Georgia hit on six explosive plays that accounted for 152 years, and hurt his team in crucial times.
"Three of them were just technique issues, just playing football," Stoops said. "Several were just good on their part. One was a real competitive (run-pass option) between one of their wide receivers and Max (Hairston) on a really tight play. The other, a wheel route, was a good concept, sucked up one of our guys and they hit the wheel for a touchdown. So, just a lot we can improve on."
The big thing, Stoops said, is making sure his team is right mentally. He's hoping the response is good from last week. So far in practice, it has been. But he can't know for sure until kickoff.
"We've taken some tough losses and got our butts whipped pretty bad, but I've always had teams that had the resolve and the toughness and the grit to fight back and get themselves up," Stoops said. "And I can't put that all on them, you know what I mean? After watching the film, we (coaches) have to own our part, too. We have to put them in a position to be successful. Some of the penalties are inexcusable. They're not coached to do that. But we also have to do our part and put them in a position to be successful. We're all in it together. We're all going to take ownership of it. The big thing is everybody's got to take charge of their own self and their job and their area and better execution, take pride in what we do. We have done that. We've done that well. That's why we've had the consistency that we've had. You know we've wanted more wins. We want to play better. But we've also had some consistency that is not exactly easy in this league."
They're going to need more of it on Saturday, to hang onto any semblance of optimism. Georgia is not a "get well" opponent. But the Wildcats at least need to get better.
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