ATHENS, Ga. (WYMT) – In week six of faculty soccer, Mark Stoops and firm face their hardest job of the season because the Wildcats journey to Bulldog territory to fulfill with No. 1 Georgia.
“What a great opportunity,” head coach Mark Stoops mentioned. “You have to credit Coach Kirby Smart, his staff, his players for what they have done and the consistency that they have had for many years. Everybody knows the players that they have, and it is certainly a uniquely talented football team across the board.”
This is the third season in a row that UK is dealing with a top-ranked Georgia group. The Cats have simply three wins over No. 1-ranked groups in program historical past. With 12 whole wins in opposition to Georgia’s program, solely 4 of these wins being in Athens, the Cats look to develop on the cleaner sport that they had in opposition to Florida final weekend.
Against Florida, UK racked up 329 yards speeding in comparison with the group’s 69 receiving yards. While the efficiency was an award-winning one for Kentucky operating again Ray Davis, who received SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week for his 280 speeding yards and 4 touchdowns, UK will want a couple of participant to place factors on the board in opposition to UGA.
“We have to get back to being efficient throwing the football and we have to be balanced again,” Stoops mentioned. “We are going to try and be balanced, we can’t do it one way or the other. Balance will be key.”
This stability will particularly be key Saturday night time as Kirby Smart’s group is ranked 14th nationally in scoring protection, permitting a median of 13.0 factors per sport. The Bulldogs return 12 gamers with beginning expertise from a bunch that ranked fifth nationally final season.
Previewing Georgia’s offense, the 2023 Bulldogs are averaging 38.6 factors per sport which is ranked 15 nationally. In 2022, Georgia put up 16 factors over the Cats in a 16-6 victory. The yr prior, the Bulldogs racked up 30 factors in a 30-13 win.
During his weekly information conferences, Stoops was requested if Georgia’s offensive scheme is far completely different than years previous:
“Not a ton. They still are very creative,” Stoops mentioned on Monday. “Is there some differences? Of course, but they’re still Georgia, right? They still have incredible players, their run game is a bit of everything. They run zone, the zone schemes. They run gap schemes, they run their toss plays, they’ve always run. Very good with the play-action off of it. And how they get the ball to Bowers is very unique. They could get the ball to him many different ways. So, they’ve done a really good job.”
While the duty will likely be tall on the gridiron, one other difficult ingredient for the Cats will certainly be enjoying on one of many greatest levels within the school soccer panorama.
“I’d like to believe that you have to learn from every opportunity. Each time you put yourself in a position … again, it’s about us and how will we handle it, how will we play? We’re on the road. With Vandy’s stadium being torn up and not having the ability to have that many fans there in an SEC environment, this will be the first time we take it in this type of environment. So, how are we going to handle that? I think every time you put yourself in that position, you better learn from it. You better grow from it in some way, shape or form. For us, it’s about continuing to build, continuing to play well, play clean, and do the things we’re doing.”
This highly-anticipated take a look at will kick off at 7 p.m. on ESPN. A win for the Cats would give UK its first win within the final 14 video games in opposition to Georgia and this system’s first-ever win in opposition to a No. 1 ranked Bulldog group.
Catch first half highlights on Sports Overtime at 11:10 p.m. and catch in-game updates on the Sports OT Twitter web page
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