Dogs' defense is starting to come around

Two weeks ago, Georgia coach Mark Richt suggested that Mississippi State could turn on film of his team's loss to Vanderbilt and there would be no intimidation factor.

Georgia might have left Jacksonville on Saturday with a 21-14 loss to Florida, but it at least gave their next opponent something to worry about.

"I'll tell you what, the team I saw in the Florida game was a lot different team than what we had seen against Vanderbilt and Mississippi State," Kentucky coach Rich Brooks said. "Defensively, Georgia was back to the defense that they've been known for. For them to hold Florida's offense down like they did, boy, that's an impressive effort. They were very, very physical."

Georgia (6-3, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) travels to Kentucky (4-4, 2-3 SEC) to play the Wildcats at 1 p.m. Saturday.

The Bulldogs are hoping to build on a spirited defensive performance in which they kept Florida's offense scoreless for the last 39 minutes on a day when Georgia committed five turnovers.

"We've got a lot of positive momentum defensively without question," Richt said. "When you talk about a team that gives up five turnovers, it's very difficult to keep people out of the end zone the entire day. They kept us in the game and gave us a very real opportunity to win it. You could see it, they played with a lot of emotion."

After generating just 215 yards of total offense, Georgia has slipped to 90th in the nation in that category (307.0 yards per game).

Kentucky's defense appears to be just what Georgia needs. The Wildcats are 118th out of 119 in the nation in yards allowed, surrendering 455.63 yards per game and 102nd in scoring defense (148.83).

The Wildcats are expected to be without top tailback Rafael Little again this week and might not have second-leading rusher Tony Dixon either. Little has been sidelined with a knee injury.