Kentucky’s defense, Josh Allen, to provide Bulldogs with ‘toughest challenge’
A quick glance at this season’s best scoring defenses could raise an eyebrow.
That’s because Kentucky is tied for the top spot, and no, not John Calipari’s nationally- acclaimed basketball team. It’s the Wildcats’ football team, and it has averaged 13 points allowed per game through eight games — Clemson shares the top spot.
It’s why Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops has his team with a 7-1 record, after a career-best 7-6 finish in each of the last two seasons.
It’s why linebacker Josh Allen and Mike Edwards are climbing up NFL draft boards. But, most importantly for the group that was projected to finish fifth in the division, it’s why Kentucky is playing Saturday for a spot in the SEC Championship.
And this hasn’t come Georgia’s way yet, despite facing two top-10 teams consecutively.
“It will probably be our toughest challenge to date,” Bulldogs’ head coach Kirby Smart said. “We haven’t seen a defense with this much experience and depth, speed. They have everything you want.”
Georgia’s last two encounters against Kentucky resulted in a prospering offense as the Bulldogs had 42 points last season and 27 in 2016. But that’s when Kentucky ranked 74th and 86th in scoring defense nationally.
Smart attributed the success to the senior leadership that Stoops possesses. It allows all 11 guys to be on the same page, whether it be the star-caliber player in Allen or a role player who sees intermittent action off of the bench. Kentucky’s defensive busts are minimal and the size in its secondary serves as an advantage.
All of those attributed qualities came from Smart, who rambled on about the defensive unit for quite some time. But the players see the challenge it can present, too.
“They’ve gotten better every year, so what they’re doing is no surprise to me,” Georgia tight end Isaac Nauta said. “Lexington is a tough place to play and they’ve got a lot of good players.”
Kentucky, on the other hand, could be tasked with its toughest offensive test as well. The Wildcats’ defense has yet to allow more than 20 points to an opponent, but the best offense it may have played thus far is Texas A&M. The Aggies reached the 20-point mark in an overtime victory over Kentucky.
Georgia heads to Kroger Field off of a performance in which it scored 36 points and 429 yards, but it was also seen how the Bulldogs could struggle (16 points) against an upper-echelon defense the week prior — LSU ranks seventh-best in scoring defense at 15.2 points allowed per game.
“We will have to be on our A-game this week in practice in preparation,” Georgia wide receiver Jeremiah Holloman said. “I do have faith in our offense though and believe we can go out there and do what we have to do to get the job done.”
The biggest problem for the Bulldogs lies in the previously-mentioned Josh Allen, who was named an AP First-Team Midseason All-American.
He has been a menace to opposing offenses throughout the season with 10 sacks — the second-highest total in the nation.
He has also recorded 56 tackles and five forced fumbles.
“They do a great job using him. He’s the total package. He can do a lot of things,” Smart said. “He’s very disruptive. You gotta know where he is at all times. He’s what you want when you design a three-four defense. He’s your prototype guy, and he has been disruptive to everyone in this conference, and everybody you talk to talk about how good a player he is.”
Regardless of the challenges the Bulldogs have ahead, however, the mentality is simple.
“We just need to come out and play our ball,” Georgia center Lamont Gaillard said. “If we play our ball, we’re going to do well this game.”
This story was originally published November 2, 2018 at 11:02 AM.