With the win last week at Vanderbilt, the Kentucky Wildcats are bowl eligible for the fourth strait season. With two games remaining on their regular season schedule, they now set their sites on taking that next step as a program. A win under the lights, in between the hedges, on Saturday night would garner national attention, put them in the mix for a bigger bowl game and heighten recruiting success in the state of Georgia.

With so much on the line this Saturday, much of the attention has surrounded the availability of Randall Cobb. Rich Brooks has went back-and-forth with the probability of him playing all week long. At this point, I would say that Cobb suits up, but how effective will he be?

There is not a player in the conference, except for maybe Tim Tebow, who is more important to his team than RC18 is to Kentucky. Sure, you still have Derrick Locke, but Locke and an unproven passing attack will not get it done against the Georgia Bulldogs.

After losing three of four (LSU 20-13, at Tennessee 45-19, Florida 41-17), the Bulldogs have won two strait against Tennessee Tech and Auburn. In their 31-24 win over Auburn, they turned the ball over zero times and committed only four penalties. Both of those categories have haunted Georgia all season long.

They enter the game against Kentucky with a -16 turnover margin, which is the worst in the SEC.

Whether he warrants the criticism or not, much of the blame for their inability to hold onto the football has been placed on senior quarterback Joe Cox. Cox, who replaced Matt Stafford, the NFL’s overall number one draft pick, has showed signs throughout the season. In their 52-41 shootout victory over Arkansas, he threw for 375 yards and five touchdowns. On the season he has thrown for 2,059 yards, 18 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

Cox is a solid college quarterback. He is not flashy under center, he throws a pretty good deep ball and he is fairly accurate. His problem all season long has been his decision process. In an attempt to make something out of nothing, he has the tendency to force throws.

However, in their last two victories he has played near mistake-free football. In their Auburn win, he simply managed the game. He threw the ball only 17 times for 173 yards, but gave the ball to his running backs and did not turn the ball over. He did, however, get away with a couple deflected passes that probably should have been picked by the Auburn defense.

With a new quarterback, it was head coach Mark Richt’s hope to establish the run early in the season. However, a knee injury to Trinton Sturdivant, their stud offensive lineman, and the slow emergence of their underclassmen tailbacks forced him to put the ball in Cox’s hand.

Now, after shuffling up their offensive line a bit, their running game is really starting to hit it’s stride. It is a good thing too, because star wide receiver A.J. Green will be out this week with a shoulder injury.

The main cogs of their running attack are sophomore Caleb King and freshman Washaun Ealey. King, who suffered through injuries to start the season, appears to finally be healthy. After missing three of their first six games, he has rushed for 71 and 66 yards in their last two contests.

Ealey, who didn’t even touch the ball in their first four games, has emerged as their go-to back. He has yet to eclipse the 100-yard mark but is getting closer and closer with each passing game. On the season he has rushed for 379 yards and three touchdowns, including 98 yards and a touchdown last week.

With Green out, they are missing an SEC-leading 47 catches and 751 yards. Freshman TE Orson Charles is their second leading receiver with 16 receptions and 284 yards and will be looked upon as their go-to guy in the passing game.

They really just don’t have much depth at the position. Look for Tavarres King, Michael Moore or maybe even Israel Troupe’s names to be called as intended receivers, but none of them have been a true threat yet this season.

It seems like Rich Brooks says this every other game, but he calls the Georgia front four the offensive line’s biggest challenge of the year. Reason being, because they have three seniors who are potential NFL draft picks.

After suffering through knee injuries last season, defensive tackles Kade Weston and Jeff Owens have really emerged for Georgia in the middle of their defensive line. At 6-5, 320lbs, Weston is a huge force  and he is having his best season yet as a senior. At 6-3, 300lbs, Owens, who missed all of last season, is a force to be reckoned with as well.

Geno Atkins, a 6-1 287-pound defensive tackle, completes the trio of potential NFL draft picks. Atkins had a tremendous sophomore campaign before tailing off last season.  This season, especially in the last few games, he has started to produce again. He was named SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week after he recorded eight tackles against Vanderbilt.

On the outside of their line, they rely on sophomore Justin Houston, who leads the team in sacks with six despite playing in only seven games. He started his season with a career-high seven tackles against Arkansas and then backed that up with four tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack against Arizona State, en route to Defensive Lineman of the Week honors.

Junior linebacker Rennie Curran is a guy who seems to get to the ball on every play. He is second in the SEC with 94 tackles and is quickly closing in on his second strait 100-tackle season. He has led the Bulldogs in tackles in nine of 10 games, including 12 in last week’s win.

At 5-11, he is an undersized linebacker, and there are reports that he is even smaller, but Curran has an unbelievable motor and just makes tackle after tackle.

Their secondary has been a struggle all season long. They have been forced to play with freshman corners and their veterans at safety simply have not got the job done. Teams have killed Georgia time-after-time with long touchdown passes.

On special teams, Georgia may have the best punter/kicker duo in the country. Kicker Blair Walsh is fourth in the nation in FG percentage and is 4-of-4 from beyond 50 yards. Punter Drew Butler leads the nation with over 49-yards per punt.

Their lone weakness on special teams is their kick coverage unit. They allowed a 99-yard return last week against Auburn and have given teams good field position all season long. Walsh is a beast at putting it in the endzone for touchbacks, but when he doesn’t they struggle covering returns.

As good as their front seven have been all season, in their losses they have had a tendency to give up big yards on the ground. They gave up 210 to Florida and 172 to Oklahoma State.  So, if Kentucky wants to win on Saturday they are going to have to have success in the running game.

A healthy Randall Cobb makes this a much more likely proposition.

As much as the Georgia secondary has struggled, I just don’t see Brooks and the Kentucky coaching staff opening up the offense and giving Morgan Newton a chance to make plays. I would love to see more completions like the slant to La’Rod King in the fourth quarter against Vandy, I just don’t see it happening.

They are also going to have to force Joe Cox into making mistakes. If Kentucky’s front seven can slow down the Georgia ground game and force Cox to make plays, he is likely to turn the ball over. If they turn the ball over, Kentucky has to convert easy points.

On the other hand, UK can’t make mistakes. At Auburn, it took a near mistake-free ball game. If they want to repeat that outcome in Athens, they will be forced to do much of the same.