WATCH: Kentucky releases hype video ahead of Georgia game
All eyes will be on the No. 11 Kentucky Wildcats this weekend, as Mark Stoops leads his program into what’s long been considered unchartered territory in Lexington: a top-15 showdown against a fellow undefeated SEC counterpart in No. 1 Georgia.
Nine years into his tenure as Kentucky’s head football coach, Stoops and the Wildcats will face their biggest test to-date. As such, Kentucky released a hype video featuring linebackers coach Jon Surmall that only fits the tremendous occassion.
David Pollack on Kentucky’s key to success
It sure took a while for Stoops to get the wheels turning on the Kentucky Wildcats football program. But now, in his ninth year, they won’t stop moving. Things got off to a shaky start, as the Wildcats finished just 2-10 in 2013, but back-to-back 5-7 seasons, followed by back-to-back 7-6 seasons proved that Stoops had them heading in the right direction. Fast forward to 2021 and Stoops has led Kentucky to an undefeated, 6-0 record, the first time the Wildcats have achieved such a feat through the first six games of a season since Bear Bryant was the head coach in 1950.
But regardless of what the Wildcats have accomplished, Stoops will enter Athens as a heavy underdog Saturday, with Georgia favored by 21.5 points. In order for Kentucky to pull off what many would consider impossible, ESPN college football analyst David Pollack said they’ll have to find success throwing the ball.
“They’ve got to be able to throw the football [if they want to beat Georgia],” Pollack said. “Kentucky is not a throwing team. They have a quarterback in Will Levis that’s a big, strong sucker that’s athletic and can make big plays. Wan’Dale Robinson is one of the best playmakers in the country out wide. They’ve got to make plays in the passing game consistently. What Kentucky is, is a brand of physicality. Kentucky is run-first, run-first, run-first, get third-and-short and just continue to just pop you in the face and wear you out. That ain’t going to work.”
Georgia’s defense, as Pollack noted, is excellent. So, in order for Kentucky to beat Georgia on the road, it will have to find success in the passing game, led by Levis. A transfer from Penn State, Levis played in eight games and started just one last season. He completed 33-of-55 passes for the Nittany Lions, throwing for 421 yards and a touchdown, while displaying a bit of athleticism on the ground with 82 rushes for 260 yards and three touchdowns. He’s off to a hot start in his first season in Lexington, and last week in a win over LSU he completed 14 of his 17 passing attempts for 145 passing yards and three touchdowns, while adding 75 rushing yards and two more rushing touchdowns.
Levis was wildly efficient against LSU, but he hardly threw the ball, going for just 17 attempts. Pollack believes that strategy must change against Georgia, as the ground-and-pound, rushing offense of Kentucky’s first few games simply won’t work against the Bulldogs’ front.