Georgia Bulldogs Focused On Kentucky This Week, Not LSU Tigers
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ATHENS - Going into the 2022 season, it was easy to see that Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs were going to dominate the SEC East and be a major contender for another national championship.
The big question in the East was which team would be running second? Most thought it would be either Tennessee or Kentucky, but it’s clear the Volunteers have earned that right.
The Wildcats are coming off a strong 2021 season, but it’s been a very disappointing year for Mark Stoops and the ‘Cats this fall. Even with the great Will Levis at quarterback, Kentucky still found a way to lose to Vanderbilt. At home! It really doesn’t get more embarrassing than that.
Kentucky has also lost to South Carolina at home in addition to losing road games at Tennessee and Ole Miss.
With the SEC East wrapped up, it would be easy for Georgia to look past Kentucky, but don’t tell that to Kirby Smart.
“Yeah, we really haven't prepared for LSU”, Smart told reporters this week. “We haven't talked about the SEC championship game or going to the SEC championship. That's just not our conversation. We keep our conversations relative to what's one foot in front of us. It really has never been mentioned as a goal, nobody talks about that. We just talk about Kentucky.”
So how do the Bulldogs give Kentucky their full attention? Again, this is a team that just lost to Vanderbilt. AT HOME.
“They've had a good approach”, Smart added. “I think there's a major league respect for Kentucky in our program because the kids that have played against Kentucky, it's been a bloodbath, man. Like, the game last year was so physical, so tough, rugged and they run a lot of physical runs, we like to run a lot of physical runs, and you end up just clanging against each other. When you come out of the game, you're really sore. So, that was that way that 14 to three or whatever game it was, maybe up there in 2020. Man, we had guys dropping like flies, it was just really physical. So, our guys respect Kentucky, I respect Coach Stoops and what they did last week has no relevance to what they'll do this week.”
The national media told us Kentucky quarterback Will Levis was a superstar. Sure, he can throw the ball a quarter-mile, but he’s not winning big football games. He’s not beating good teams, and it won’t be easy playing against the top defense in college football this weekend.
Still, Smart gave a lot of praise this week to Kentucky’s big-armed quarterback.
“As far as Will Levis, this guy's got a bazooka for an arm”, Smart said. “He can make all the throws. He's a really good athlete, and he's physically and mentally really tough. He's wired that kind of way to compete against you. It's not like he's going to shy away from contact. He doesn't get flustered by rush. He's not afraid of standing in there and taking shots.”
What’s clear is that Georgia isn’t overlooking Kentucky, and that’s bad news for the basketball school up in Lexington.
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Sunday, November 20, 2022 || @ Red Zone in Athens
