Kentucky Football Preview – Know Your Enemy: Georgia Bulldogs

GAME 8

OCTOBER 23, 2010  7:30 PM

GEORGIA BULLDOGS  (3-4)

Commonwealth Stadium – Lexington, KY

TV – CSS, Big Blue Sports Network

SERIES HISTORY:

Georgia leads 49-12-2

RECENT GAMES:

2009:  Kentucky  34  Georgia  27

2008:  Georgia  42  Kentucky  38

2007:  Georgia  24  Kentucky  13

2006:  Kentucky  24  Georgia  20

2005:  Georgia  45  Kentucky  13

Just a week after Kentucky makes a statement with their upset over the #10 Gamecocks, Kentucky has another game that will make or break their season.  The Georgia Bulldogs come into Lexington propelled by two straight blow out wins over the weak sisters of the SEC (Tennessee and Vanderbilt) by a combined score of 84-13.  Kentucky has gone 1-1 the lat two weeks against two top 10 teams, with a cumulative score of  65-65.  Perhaps a Kentucky win will show how far the program truly has come in the last five seasons.  Saturday’s game acts as the rubber mach game of the last four seasons and if Kentucky wins, they will have won three of the last five versus the Bulldogs.  Think about that.

OFFENSE 

Freshman QB Aaron Murray is putting together a very impressive freshman campaign.  His numbers are almost the same as Kentucky’s Mike Hartline and Murray has had to do half the season without his top target, AJ Green.  Murray has 1653 yards passing and 12 TD’s against just three interceptions.  And Murray has gotten better as the season has advanced, having 8 TD’s versus just 1 INT over the last four games.  Murray has also stretched his running legs over the last four games, rushing for 32, 13, 41, and 36 yards and he does have 4 rushing TD’s on the year.  Not saying the kid is Cameron Newton, but Kentucky has to respect his ability to run.  On the other hand, he has been sacked 14 times on the season, so it appears some of the rushing yardage came from running for his life rather than planned rushing plays.

Kentucky catches somewhat of a break with Caleb King suspended, but Washaun Ealey is no slouch.  Ealey has 369 yards rushing and 2 TD’s on the season and is coming off a 123 yard performance against Vanderbilt.  Ealey was poised to be the Bulldog’s featured back, but has had a case of fumbleitis which put King back into the spotlight.  With King out,Ealey has a second chance to keep the starters spot.  Ealey has pretty good speed catching passes out of the backfield but is not utilized as a receiver as much as he should be.  Carlton Thomas is quick and elusive and is coming off a two TD performance against Vanderbilt.  Aaron Murray actually has the second highest number of carries on the team this season and AJ Green may get an an occasional look.

Since returning from his suspension, AJ Green has shone with four TD’s and 279 yards.  Green is big (6’4) and fast, and presents a potential matchup problem the same way Ashlon Jeffery did from South Carolina.  Green is Georgia’s biggest deep ball threat as well.  Kris Durham is another big (6’5) receiver that presents matchup problems for Kentucky.  He is averaging over 20 yards a catch and has 2 100 yard receiving games on the season.  TE Tavarres King is pretty heavily involved in the passing game for the Bulldogs with 17-327-2 on the season.  Kentucky has not faced too many TE threats this season, so it will be interesting to see how much trouble he can give UK.  Orson Charles is a bit bigger TE target and he has 10 caches for 139 yards.  Georgia will be tough to defend with the two big bookend WR targets and the two tightends.

DEFENSE

Overall, the Bulldogs have a very respectable defense, giving up just 17.4 points a game.  That stat is kind of misleading as the Bulldogs have given up just 21 points total in their three wins, and 101 points in their four losses.  Kentucky is going to give this defense their sternest test of the season since Arkansas hung 31 points on the Bulldogs.  It’s easy to say that the defense is playing their best stretch of the season as they gave up 14 points to Tennessee and shut out Vanderbilt.  It should be noted that both of those games were at home, and this game is at a sold out Commonwealth Stadium.  It should also be noted that Georgia has not won on the road this season.

The Bulldogs play a 3-4 defense which allows it to take advantage of it’s speed and athleticism.  OLB Justin Houston has blossomed in the 3-4 defense and will give Kentucky fits all day.  He has the speed and size (6’3 260) to give any OL trouble and he already has 6.5 sacks on the season.  The real advantage for Kentucky rests in the defensive backfield of Georgia.  Ryan Mallet picked this team to shreds and well, we see what Mike Hartline has done the past couple of weeks against Auburn and the Gamecocks.

OUTLOOK

On offensive, Georgia is a mirror image of Kentucky.  Murray and Hartline have similar numbers, both teams are without a key piece of their rushing game, and both possess big, athletic WR’s.  And if you look at the recent history between these teams, this game will be a shoot out.  The real key will be in the passing game and which set of DB’s will be able to shut down the other team’s big receivers.  Attention to Georgia’s DB’s.  get to know Chris Matthews very well.

And even though their numbers are similar, you have to give Hartline the edge over the freshman Murray.  Murray has yet to win on the road and Hartline has become the true senior leader Kentucky needs to win games.  The other big advantage for UK is that the Bulldogs do nowt have a Randall Cobb.  AJ Green is a true talent, but Cobb has evolved into a leader and he possess the will to win that very few players do.

On paper, and on the field, this is a game that Kentucky matches up well in.&n
bsp; Despite the three game losing streak, this season is still one that can be very special and if that is to be the case, this is a game that Kentucky must win.  KENTUCKY  35  Georgia  24.

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