Jim Nagy breaks down how Ray Davis could be difference-maker vs. Georgia

No. 1 Georgia is set to face its toughest task of the season with No. 20 Kentucky coming to town. They’ll feature star running back Ray Davis fresh off a career-high 280-yard performance against Florida at home.

Senior Bowl director Jim Nagy revealed his perspective of Davis’ career-defining performance and how it could translate into trouble for the top-ranked Bulldogs.

“If you go for 280 in the SEC, that’s a big number, especially against a Florida defense with Cam Jackson and Princely [Umanmielen] up front,” Nagy told Staples. “They did a great job shutting down Tennessee the week before, so I did not think Ray Davis was going to go off and have this kind of game.

“He didn’t have a lot of success in those first four weeks against the softer non-conference schedule. I didn’t know if it was going to transfer over to Saturday — and it sure did.”

To Nagy’s point, Davis rushed for a combined 312 over the first four weeks of the season against Ball State, EKU, Akron and Vanderbilt, respectively. His most impressing outing came in the season-opener, amassing 112 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

His SEC-opening performance against his former team saw him rush for 78 yards and two touchdowns during Week 4, so no one expected his 280-yard performance against the Gators.

“They’ve got some good people,” Nagy said of the rest of Kentucky’s offense. “They’ve got Eli Cox, Marques Cox, they’ve got some dudes up front that are legitimate NFL prospects upfront, so [Saturday vs. Georgia] is going to be a fun one. I know College GameDay is going to that Red River game, but that’s going to be a good one in Athens.”

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart as very high on the Kentucky running back, and even went so far as comparing Davis to former Bulldogs star D’Andre Swift with the only difference being that Davis is a bit bigger than the now Detroit Lions star.

Smart went down the line of UK running backs that have always been pesky to stop, namedropping Benny Snell and Georgia native Chris Rodriguez specifically. He expects Davis to be grouped among those great Kentucky backs by the time he moves on from the program.

Kickoff between the Wildcats and Bulldogs is set for 7 p.m. ET inside Sanford Stadium live on ESPN. Georgia has opened as a 14.5-point betting favorite at home, per Vegas Insider.