SEC Football - Kentucky Wildcats Vs. Georgia Bulldogs

On Sat 8 Nov 2008, the Kentucky Wildcats (6 -3, 2-3 SEC) host the Georgia Bulldogs (Ap#14) (7-2, 4-2 SEC) who are looking to rebound from their 49-10 defeat at the hands of the Florida Gators in Georgia last week in a key SEC East Football matchup. Georgia's loss effectively dashed any hopes of competing for the national title for the Bulldogs barring a catastrophic collapse by Florida that would put Georgia in the SEC championship game.

Kentucky on the other hand, is coming off of a hard-fought road victory last week at Mississippi State. The Wildcats victory made the team bowl eligible for the third year in a row; the first time since 1956 for the Kentucky program in what has been coined as a 'rebuilding year' by many. The Wildcats have a traditionally tough opponent in the Georgia Bulldogs. The Cats are 1-10 against Georgia since 1997. The one victory came in 2006 (24-20) in the last trip to Lexington by the Bulldogs.

Georgia Trends

Georgia's defense comes into the Kentucky game having given up 373 total yards against Florida. That is the second highest yardage total Georgia has given up all season. The 49 points the Gators scored against the defense were the most allowed by the Bulldogs since a 51-33 loss to Tennessee in October, 2006.

The Georgia Bulldog offense is continuing to average an SEC-leading 427 yards a game. The offense is led by quarterback, Matthew Stafford, who leads the conference with 245.7 yards passing per game, and star running back Knowshon Moreno, who is third in the SEC in rushing at 110 yards per game. Last season, Moreno carried the ball 22 times against the Wildcats, for 124 yards and a TD in the Bulldog victory at home over the Andre Woodson led Cats.

In the Florida loss, both Moreno and Stafford had sub-par games. Moreno was held to 65 yards on 17 rushes, and Stafford threw a career high-tying three interceptions. In competition against common-opponents, the Bulldogs defeated South Carolina 14-7, who outlasted Kentucky earlier in the season ( 24 - 17), but lost to Alabama and Florida, both of whom defeated the Cats. Overall, however, the Georgia performance against Alabama was much worse than the 11 point defeat shows. If not for a late comeback by the Bulldogs the score against the Crimson Tide would have been much worse. The Cats lost a close game to the Tide 17-14, in a defensive showdown.

Kentucky Trends

Kentucky enters the game trying to win back-to-back SEC Football games for just the second time since 2000. The last time the Wildcats won back-to-back SEC Football games was in 2006 when the Cats defeated Mississippi State, Georgia, and Vanderbilt consecutively. A victory over Georgia would also make Kentucky competitive to be nationally ranked for the first time this season!

Coach Brooks announced earlier in the week that Randall Cobb would get the nod at starting quarterback again this week, but would continue to use a two quarterback system against the Bulldogs. We don't know if Coach Brooks will alternate Cobb and Mike Hartline on possessions or based on the situation, so will have to see how the coach manages the platoon system on Saturday.

Against Mississippi State, Cobb was 7-13 passing for 56 yards and 1 TD and also rushed 12 times for 31 yards and a TD. Hartline was 9-17 passing for 90 yards off of the bend, and rushed 2 times for 12 yards.

Prediction

The official line for the game has the Bulldogs favored by 10 points and is one of the most bet-upon games to date for next weekend. Many believe that Georgia will win by greater than 10 points. A loss for Georgia, effectively removes the Bulldogs from any consideration for an upper-tier bowl. A loss for Kentucky is a lost opportunity at an upper-tier bowl game, but the Cats will have games against Vandy and a struggling Tennessee team to round out the season.

If the Kentucky Wildcats are going to have a shot at upsetting the Bulldogs, Randall Cobb has to get rid of the first-half jitters he displayed against Mississippi State last week and the Cats special teams play has to be on par or better than against Mississippi State. With return of some key players from injury, the Cats defense should keep this a closer contest than the spread predicts. Prediction is that Kentucky will keep this game closer than expected, but that Georgia will prevail 24-20.