Kirby Smart and Mark Stoops have been friends for years and have great respect for each other. It seems like every season Kirby is making comments about Mark and the UK program in a positive light, often praising how hard his team’s work and that they give Georgia much more of a challenge than people on the outside might believe. Ironically, this year it seems like most of that won’t be true based off what we’ve seen, outside of the general nice words from Coach Smart.

As each coach has conducted their game week press conferences and media obligations about their opponent, Kirby was asked about this matchup and his thoughts on facing Kentucky this season. He stayed right on par.

“I have immense respect for Mark. He and I have grown to be really good friends. He’s one of the best in the business. He’s done a tremendous job at Kentucky over the time that he’s been there. His teams are always very disciplined, very physical. That’s a really tough place to play…”

He’s usually quick to credit Kentucky’s offensive line but I don’t think it will get much honor this go-around. He did credit the fans that create a great road environment for the Bulldogs to enter in, calling it “hard to exit with a win”, despite doing it all four times he’s been in town.

“It’s never easy up there. lt’s never easy on the road in the SEC at all and I don’t know if people truly respect and appreciate a win on the road at Kentucky.”

During the offseason the Kentucky fan base set a record of 40,800 season tickets sold, the most of the Mark Stoops era. It will host a notable home schedule (remaining) of Vanderbilt, Auburn, and Louisville, but neither of those quite rank up with the likes of top-ranked Georgia. It’s considered one of the hardest — if not the hardest — games on the schedule this season.

Another thing that took place this offseason was Kentucky picking up Georgia’s backup quarterback, Brock Vandagriff, and claiming him as their own with a commitment. The three-year Bulldog decided to find a new home after spending two seasons behind back-to-back national champion Stetson Bennett, which left him fighting for the starting job this spring. He would be beaten out by Carson Beck, a projected first round draft pick and then hit the portal afterwards.

After spending three seasons with the Bulldogs, Kirby is clearly very familiar with his former player and had great things to say about him.

On Brock, he described him as a “wonderful teammate and a great kid. Always put the team first… A lot of appreciation for what he did (here).”

With no bad-blood for leaving, both parties have mutual respect for each other and both are eagerly wanting a win on Saturday. Through essentially 2 three-quarter stretches from Vandagriff, he’s totaled in 15/28 pass attempts for 199 yards and 3 touchdowns, followed up by 2 interceptions.

Kentucky currently has a 12-63-2 record all-time versus Georgia, with a current losing streak of 14 games. As you might remember, last year’s trip to Athens was absolutely brutal and very deflating, watching the Wildcats take a 51-13 beating in a game where we all believed the program was finally at level to compete against them and it was followed up by the harsh reality of it in-fact being not ready yet. 

I doubt anyone expects Kentucky to win this year, and now after the South Carolina loss I’m not sure if anyone even expects them to be competitive for the final score. Started off as a 24-point favorite, I just don’t see a world where this weekend’s matchup is anything but negative and I’m already ready for it to be over with it. 

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