Georgia aiming for 2nd in East

ATHENS, Ga. -- Georgia could be the Tom Kite of this year's Southeastern Conference East Division football race.

Kite shot 6 under par at the 1997 Masters, which was good enough for a runner-up finish. Yet his four-day effort was overshadowed by the record 18 under compiled by emerging superstar Tiger Woods.

The Bulldogs were eliminated from this year's East chase by a 41-17 Halloween massacre at the hands of No. 1 Florida, but they can finish alone in second with a win Saturday night against visiting Kentucky.

"It's the best we can do now," quarterback Joe Cox said Tuesday. "It's not what we wanted, but I would still be proud of finishing up this year strong and being behind Florida in the East. That's definitely what we're shooting for at this point."

Georgia is 6-4 overall and 4-3 in league games after rallying past Auburn 31-24 last Saturday. Florida has completed an 8-0 SEC slate and is assured of winning the East by three games, something that hasn't occurred since the league went to divisional play in 1992.

Should the Bulldogs lose to the Wildcats, Florida would become the first team in either division to roll to a four-game margin.

"I think the guys would take great pride, at this point, in finishing second in the Eastern Division," Bulldogs coach Mark Richt said. "It's certainly something we can obtain, and it's something we can control. I think it's meaningful."

Said cornerback Bryan Evans: "It could have been worse. Losing last week would have made it worse than it is now."

The Bulldogs are 50-21 in conference games under Richt and have had winning seasons every year but 2006, when they went 4-4. Georgia and Florida are the only SEC teams to go at least .500 in league games every year since 1997.

Florida has been .500 or better every year in divisional play.

Kentucky, meanwhile, has gone 4-4 four times since '92 but has yet to produce a winning league mark. The Wildcats are 6-4 overall and 2-4 in the league with games remaining against Georgia and Tennessee, a program the Wildcats last defeated in 1984.

"Halfway up the mountain is winning every nonconference game and then attacking SEC games and winning more of them and hopefully winning more than you lose," Wildcats coach Rich Brooks said. "We haven't reached that next camp yet, the next step up the ladder."