Wiedmer: Should Georgia be worried about UK's Cardiac Cats?

Kentucky tight end C.J. Conrad (87) beats Missouri safety Tyree Gillespie (9) into the end zone to score the winning touchdown with no time left on the clock Saturday in Columbia, Mo.
Kentucky tight end C.J. Conrad (87) beats Missouri safety Tyree Gillespie (9) into the end zone to score the winning touchdown with no time left on the clock Saturday in Columbia, Mo.

The video already has topped 550,000 views. It shows Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops "crowd surfing" above his jubilant players following Saturday's stunning 15-14, last-second victory at Missouri.

It is the kind of unscripted, unbridled joy that sometimes happens with college kids when a basketball school suddenly finds itself with a somewhat realistic chance to represent the East Division of the Southeastern Conference in its league championship game inside Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Dec. 1.

All the No. 11 Wildcats have to do to get there is upset No. 6 Georgia this week inside the venue formerly known as Commonwealth Stadium.

Never mind that the Associated Press voters still think so little of Big Blue that UK is the only Power Five conference team with seven wins (7-1 overall, 5-1 in SEC play) still standing outside the Top 10. Or that the Cats are one of only four league programs - the others being Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt - that have not reached the SEC title game at least once.

Or that the Bulldogs, attempting to reach their second straight league title game, almost assuredly will be favored by a touchdown or more, quite possibly by double figures.

And no one can blame anyone who believes the person who owns that $1.6 billion Mega Millions ticket had a better chance of collecting that prize than UK does of winning the SEC East after watching the Cats' catatonic offense for most of its game against Mizzou.

But then Wildcats quarterback "Touchdown Terry" Wilson somehow marched his team 81 yards in the game's final 84 seconds, throwing a touchdown pass to tight end C.J. Conrad from 2 yards out on an untimed down after Mizzou was flagged for defensive pass interference on what would have been the final play of the game.

Conrad, who's viewed as a legitimate NFL tight end after college, later said of the play, which the UK coaching staff had considered changing: "I was like, 'No, I'm winning this game for this team.'"

And so he did. And because he did, the Cats apparently haven't used up all of their lives in a season in which they have won their last two SEC games by a total of eight points but also have surrendered only 74 points total in six league contests.

Moreover, they've failed to give up more than 16 points in regulation in any of those games (Texas A&M totaled 20 after heading to overtime with 14).

A final stat to bring Georgia fans to attention: Missouri failed to record a single first down in eight second-half possessions against UK. This is the same Tigers offense that scored 63 points seven days earlier against Memphis.

Of course, no somewhat highly ranked team needs such determined defense more than UK, which stands 123rd among 129 FBS programs in passing offense, 101st in total offense and 79th in scoring offense (27.1 ppg) despite the presence of running back Benny Snell. He repeatedly has put the UK offense on his broad shoulders and saved it with his powerful legs while averaging more than 116 rushing yards a game.

Indeed, this is an old-fashioned football team, which might be understandable since the last time the Wildcats won five SEC games in a season was 41 years ago in 1977. Almost exactly like this team - whose best potential NFL talent figures to be 6-foot-5, 230-pound linebacker Josh Allen, who was named national defensive player of the week after recording 11 tackles, two sacks and two forced fumbles against Mizzou - that UK squad gave up an average of 11 points a game and was built around 6-7 defensive end Art Still as it finished 10-1 with a 6-0 SEC mark.

History could repeat, emphasis on could.

So should Georgia be worried about Benny and the Cats? Probably not. The Bulldogs' biggest concern would seem to be showing up a wee bit flat after Saturday's big win over Florida in Jacksonville. Yes, the Kentucky crowd of 60,000 or so will be stoked, but the Dawgs have seen crowds way larger than that at their spring games.

The more likely scenario is that this all will become a tad much for Big Blue but just right for a Georgia program that won last year's SEC title game and came within overtime of topping Alabama for the national championhip.

Yet Stoops also said this about his Cardiac Cats after the Missouri Miracle: "If you're going to be a championship team, you've got to win games like that."

And UK has been winning the close ones more than most this season.

Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com

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