Will Levis excited for chance to play at No. 1 Georgia

Kentucky fans loved what they saw from Will Levis and the Wildcats against LSU and are hoping for an upset of No. 1 Georgia Saturday. (Vicky Graff Photo)

He’s coming off his best all-around game at Kentucky but now quarterback Will Levis has to lead the Cats against No. 1 Georgia in Athens Saturday on CBS-TV. But if you think he might be nervous, you are wrong.

“It’s awesome, that’s why I came here. It’s why you come to the (Southeastern Conference). It’s stuff that you dream of when you make decisions like that,” said the Penn State transfer. “It’s one of the environments you think of when you think of SEC football, Sanford Stadium in Athens.

“Really excited to go down there and play the best team in the country. We are going to have a good week at practice, and hopefully we are going to find some ways to get the ball moving and put some points on the board against them.”

Levis was 14 of 17 passing for 145 yards and three scores — and did not throw an interception in a game for the first time this season. He also ran 11 times for 75 yards and two scores. His best run, though, was a 33-yard, tackle-breaking run on UK’s opening drive of the second half. Levis broke tackles and also had a nifty spin move that electrified the Kroger Field crowd.

 Levis said he just trusted his ability on the running plays.

“I’m not necessarily the fastest dude, but I know how to use my body to get those extra yards. Knowing my body and knowing my skill set. Continuing to learn when it’s smart to slide and smart to get those extra yards,” he said. “It’s a part of my game that I want to utilize to the best of my ability, and I think I can use it to help us win games.”

Levis said his crowd-pleasing run only happened because of a missed communication with his running backs that left him with no one to give the ball to.

“I shouldn’t have even had the ball in my hands obviously. So I just pulled it, saw the edge, took it, got to the second level, tried to do a little spin move,” Levis said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever done a spin move. It worked pretty well, I guess. Tried to stay on my feet and get as many yards as I can.”

Levis said before the game he had been working on slowing down his footwork in games to match what he does in practice. He still was not totally pleased with his passing accuracy but it was much better on short and intermediate throws.

“My decision making and my ball placement for the most part were pretty good when it needed to be. Just comes with good preparation and trust in the timing and progression of everything,” he said.

Kentucky ran the ball for 330 yards as both Chris Rodriguez and Kavosiey Smoke went over 100 yards. That’s why Levis only threw 17 passes — but he was fine with that.

“If we go drive where I just I hand the ball off and we score, it’s the same thing as if I throw 75 yards passing. What matters is the ticks in the win column and running the ball great and passing the ball great,” the Penn State transfer said.

“The efficiency in the run game opened up a couple of those play passes that we had for big gains. So that was very cool to see. Our offensive line grinds, our tight ends grind, our receivers grind. We were able to win the ball really well and hope to continue that through the season.

“It was definitely our most complete offensive game all season, and we have been talking about winning close games. It feels good to have that comfort zone between the scores. We got to start winning games like that because we know we can, and we’ve seen that offensively at this level we have to keep striving to do that each week.”