
Last week's severe weather plagued match-up in Fayetteville, Arkansas against John L. Smith's Razorbacks was certainly one to forget for Kentucky's fans, players, and coaches. Unfortunately for the previously mentioned group of people, this weekend's quickly approaching homecoming game vs. Georgia doesn't look to offer any bright spots to help alleviate last week's humiliating outcome. Mark Richt's Bulldogs, who are still very much in contention for the SEC East crown,
enter the game 5-1 and will bring an immense amount of talent on both sides of the ball for this Saturday's late night match-up in Commonwealth Stadium. While they bring high levels of skill on both offense and defense, the Georgia offense, led by Junior Quarterback Aaron Murray, will take center stage against a Wildcat defense that is experiencing an all time level of incompetency.
The biggest weakness for Kentucky this season has undoubtedly been stopping the opponent from doing just about whatever they please on offense, particularly in the passing game.
Unfortunately for Rick Minter's defense, that weakness will be exploited early and often as Aaron Murray is one of the SEC's, and arguably, one the nation's elite Quarterbacks. He's put up the numbers to supplement the "nation's elite" hype as well. So far on the six game season, he is averaging a spectacular 9.24 yards per pass, has a Passer Rating of 159.3, and has tossed 12 touchdowns while only throwing 4 picks. While most of this is due to his undeniable skill set, he has certainly gotten some help from his outstanding group of receivers thus far. Michael Bennett and Tavarres King are the Dawgs' leading receivers with 345 and 323 yards gained on the season respectively. To pair with these gaudy yardage totals are their 7 combined touchdowns and elite level yard per reception totals of 14.4 and 19.0.
This offense isn't one dimensional either as leading ball carrier, Todd Gurley, is averaging a mind numbing 7.1 yards per carry. Given all this, it's hard to envision a scenario where Kentucky's porous defense could slow this elite attack.
While the Bulldogs aren't exactly having an excellent defensive season thus far, they have many players that will find themselves playing on Sundays sooner rather than later. Senior Safety, Bacarri Rambo, is a prime example of the high levels of defensive talent calling Georgia home. After serving his four game suspension for a violation of team rules, he has come back with a fury, obtaining 15 tackles (9 of which were solo). Rambo isn't the only Bulldog getting high praise for his abilities either, OLB Jarvis Jones and DT John Jenkins are both projected to go in the first round of 2013's NFL Draft by CBSSports.com. In six games Jones has acquired 37 tackles, 5.5 sacks, and picked off an opposing pass as well.
Jenkins, the 6'3'' 360 pound behemoth has 15 tackles on the year and is arguably the nation's most elite Nose Tackle. Pair Georgia's playmakers with a Kentucky offense that comes into the game struggling to find any success given injuries and you have a recipe for a Wildcat disaster.
The Bulldogs enter the game as 27-point favorites and it's easy to understand why. The disparity in talent on both sides of the ball will almost assure a Georgia victory against a coach who is battling for his job at the current juncture.
In fact, it's difficult to imagine a way Kentucky could even keep the contest competitive given the vast amount of NFL talent wearing Red & Black. Can Kentucky pull off an upset for the ages? While it's theoretically possible in the same way I could acquire Kate Upton's phone number, the likelihood of that occurring is microscopic given the series history and obvious skill disparity.
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