Georgia dominated Kentucky from start to finish. (Georgia Athletics Photo)
I am not sure most Kentucky football fans truly believed that the Cats would beat No. 1 Georgia. Not in Athens in a night game where the Bulldogs almost never lose and against a team UK coach Mark Stoops had yet to beat since taking over in the Bluegrass.
But I also don’t think most UK fans believed the game would be over after one quarter or that the Cats would get mashed 51-13.
The oddsmakers had Georgia as about a 14-point favorite and considering the way UK’s defense had been playing and praised, I think most UK fans thought the game would be close.
I think a friend who is a die-hard UK and sports fan put it best after the game.
“It feels like hope is the enemy of the UK fan,” she said.
I got to thinking that she might well be right.
“Every year they (coaches) tell us, ‘This is the moment we will break through. We have all the best facilities, best transfers, highest paid staff …” but we never can go to the next level,” she said.
She’s right.
Kentucky coaches did truly believe they had a team that could play with Georgia this year. Instead, the Cats were way more overmatched than they were in 2021 or 2022 when the Bulldogs won national championships both years.
Now even the most optimistic UK fan has to look at the rest of the schedule in a different way.
Louisville is unbeaten and fans stormed the field after the Cards beat Notre Dame on Saturday. Missouri had a 15-point first-half lead over LSU before letting a win get away in the fourth quarter. And I don’t care if Tennessee did lose to Florida, beating the Vols is still a struggle for UK and any long-time Kentucky fan understands that.
“Losing isn’t easy. It was tough it unfolded the way it did. We made some mistakes and the good thing is we get to learn from them,” UK tight end said. “I know we are going to bounce back.
“We are resilient. This team will be based on how we handle adversity. We are not going to let this loss get in the way of our goals. We still have a lot of goals we can accomplish.”
Maybe he’s right if the Cats can learn from the loss — and they have a lot to learn. However, I doubt today that most UK fans are as hopeful about the future as they were going into Saturday’s game.
4 Responses
UofK football is in desperate need of a good quarterback.
Everyone should just give up on the Cats now. Forget the fact that Ky had been a doormat 130 yrs. before Stoops. If he can’t beat Georgia and win the title, he should be fired. However that means every other coach in the SEC not named Saban also must go, because they haven’t got it done either. Just cut and run. That’s what certain people do when there is a sign of trouble. Hope is NEVER the enemy. That’s all most people have.
Jimmy I see what you are saying. Bottom line is Georgia is a cut above , above UK and probably the rest of the nation..No shame in my opinion in getting beat by a much better team.. How you get beat says something too. That was bad. The mistakes against a team you can’t make against was too much.
This UK team was not ready, and when UGA knocked UK back on its heels at the start of the game, UGA smelled blood in the water and made their kill as quickly as it could. That is what great teams in any sport will do.
I hope UK football can take this lesson away from this spanking and figure out how to adopt that attitude.
I also hope that the UK Basketball folks will learn this Georgia-taught lesson and apply it to how UK basketball teams attack opponents and put them away.
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