Oct. 19, 1999
LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the first time in Kentucky football history,theWildcats have scored 30 or more points in three straight SoutheasternConference games.
According to coach Hal Mumme, that streak likely will have to reach fourgames if Kentucky (5-2, 3-1 SEC) is to upset 14th-ranked Georgia (5-1, 3-1)Saturday at Athens.
“We’ll need 30 this week, probably,” Mumme said Monday. “They’re awfullyexplosive.”
In each of their last two games against Georgia, the Wildcats havesubstantially outgained the Bulldogs in total yardage and have had more firstdowns.
Both times, though, they’ve fallen short on the scoreboard: 23-13 inAthensin 1997 and 28-26 at home last year.
Asked whether the losses left him frustrated or disappointed, Mumme saidthere was no difference.
“In my book, frustrating and disappointing are about the same thing – itdoesn’t really matter,” he said. “I thought they were great college footballgames, both of them, and we just came out on the wrong end. Hopefully we canright that this time.”
The Wildcats have a lot on the line. A win would make them eligible for abowl for the second straight season and also would go a long way towardestablishing Kentucky as an SEC contender.
In spite of impressive victories over Arkansas, South Carolina and LSU intheir last three games, the Wildcats have yet to demonstrate that they cancompete with the heavyweights of the SEC East – Florida, Tennessee andGeorgia.In Mumme’s two-plus seasons in Lexington, the Wildcats are a combined 0-7against the Big Three.
The closest calls have been against Georgia. In 1997, the Wildcatsoutgainedthe Bulldogs by a 436-275 margin, but a missed extra point, a touchdown calledback by a penalty and a career 186-yard rushing day by Georgia’s RobertEdwardsspelled defeat.
Last season, Kentucky jumped ahead 10-0 in the first quarter, butmissed achance to go up by 17 on a failed goal-line bootleg by quarterback TimCouch onfourth down. Georgia came roaring back, scoring touchdowns on four straightpossessions, then held on for the win.
Quincy Carter, then a freshman quarterback for Georgia, rushed for 114yardsand touchdown and threw for 147 yards and two scores in that game.
Carter is back this year, although he is without his three top receiversfrom last season, split end Tony Small, tight end Larry Brown and wideoutChampBailey.
“We haven’t had quite the passing game we had last year,” Georgia coachJim Donnan said Monday.
Mumme said Carter is still plenty dangerous.
“He’s really a big guy. That’s one thing that makes him tough, becausenotonly is he fast and quick, but he’s really hard to bring down,” he said. “Ithink that’s what makes him such an effective runner. You really are not goingto stop him, but hopefully you slow him down and contain him enough where hedoesn’t beat you.”
Teams that focus solely on Carter as a running threat do so at their ownperil, Mumme added.
“He really is an accurate passer, too … (and) at some point you’vegot totry to get to him too,” he said.
The Bulldogs’ impressive record includes some close calls: 24-23 overCentral Florida, 23-22 over LSU, and last weekend’s 27-17 win over Vanderbilt,in which Georgia rallied from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
