LEXINGTON, Ky.—Whenever Kentucky shows up on the Georgia football schedule, Kirby Smart sounds sort of like a broken record.

It’s usually the most physical game Georgia plays every year. Going on the road to play the Wildcats is about as much fun as a root canal.

That was the case again this week even with the No. 1 Bulldogs more than a three-touchdown favorite.

Smart sat in a cramped interview room late Saturday night in the bowels of Kroger Field after the Bulldogs edged Kentucky 13-12. The same Wildcats team that got boatraced by South Carolina 31-6 a week ago on the same field.

“I tried to tell everybody all week, nobody would listen to me,” Smart said. “I know what this team is made out of. I know how tough he coaches. …When they get disrespected like they did last week and they listen to it for a week, they come out ready to play.”

Smart said he thinks his players bought into how good he thought Kentucky is, but that playing in Lexington is a tough environment even though the Wildcats lost for the seventh time in the last eight home games.

Georgia won on its last trip here in 2022, 16-6, and has won by an average of 8.4 points in Lexington in five trips under Smart.

“They play really well against us,” Smart said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for Mark (Stoops) and the defense. They do a great job. …I think people looked a lot at last year’s game (a 51-13 Georgia win) and a lot of things happened bad for them early. It kind of snowballed and got away from that. I know playing up here, that can happen, too.”

He felt that happening to Georgia, too, this time.

“There were moments that it was starting to slide, right, for us,” Smart said. “Penalties, things happen. We responded to it. A true sign of a great fighter is not how hard you punch, but what punches can you take.”

Smart brought up other tougher-than-expected road wins in recent years—26-22 at Missouri in 2022 and 27-20 at Auburn last season.

“A lot of teams look at Georgia and think we’re going to beat everybody,” said wide receiver Dominic Lovett who led the Bulldogs with 6 catches for 89 yards after having just 18 yards receiving in the first half. “You’ve got to understand other teams have good players, too, and they’re physical too.”

Georgia, the nation’s No. 1 team, was firing blanks on offense in the first half with a slow start.

“Got to block em. Shock,” coach Kirby Smart told radio sideline reporter D.J. Shockley after the Bulldogs had just 63 first half yards and trailed 6-3. “We aint blocking them. …They’ve been the aggressor.”

Quarterback Carson Beck closed the game completing 10 of his last 12 passes on a day he finished 15 of 24 for 160 yards passing.

“We’re not going to bow down to a battle,” Beck said.

Cornerback Julian Humphrey mentioned fighting “blow-by-blow,” which seemed to be a theme in the Georgia locker room.

“We thought this would be a blow-by-blow game,” Smart said. “We said the first chop of the tree doesn’t chop the tree down. It takes sometimes 272 axe chops and it took every single one tonight to get the job done.”

The Kentucky basketball team will look much different than the last few years with plenty of experience. One of the most important things about head coach Mark Pope’s offensive system is not just the fast pace, but also the shooting. The Wildcats will have plenty of threats to let it fly this season.

Who will lead Kentucky in three-point percentage? For starters, there are a couple of players on the team this season who are all capable of lighting it up from distance. Andrew Carr, a 6-10 forward, shot 37.1% in his career from deep and will be a terrific stretch-four for the Wildcats. Then you have the state’s all-time leading scorer in Travis Perry, who is a knock-down shooter. In his career at Lyon County, the guard shot a very impressive 44.9% from three-point range. Now, he’s the leading scorer in the state of Kentucky with 4,359 points in his high school career.

Then, there’s arguably the most efficient scorer in college basketball in Koby Brea. He was by far the nation’s leader in three-point percentage last season, making a jaw-dropping 49.8% of his attempts from long range. “By the numbers, Koby Brea is the most efficient mid-to-high major player in college basketball in the last decade,” Pope said after Brea signed with the Wildcats. Those are three candidates who all have great chances to lead Kentucky in three-point percentage next season.

Mark Pope has some weapons at his disposable when he wants to shoot it from deep, and they fit his offensive system perfectly. The Wildcats won’t be lacking when it comes to shooting the ball.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — There are thousands fewer sports officials in Kentucky than a few years ago, and the Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) points to one major issue – spectators.

“I think you’re seeing officials get out of the officiating business is one problem and the other problem is people don’t want to get into it,” said associate commissioner Butch Cope.

Cope said the number of officials dropped from about 9,000 officials in 2018 to 5,700 in 2023. He said it’s because of bad sportsmanship.

“Fans just need to take a breath, and stop and think sometimes, the things they say, the coaches or administrators, would they say that to their spouse? Would they say that to their school principal? Would they say that to their superintendent?” said Cope.

He said if there aren’t enough referees, games will be canceled. Cope said it’s typically freshman and JV games that get the axe—in order for varsity games to still go on.

Soccer and wrestling have the biggest shortages of sports officials, but the KHSAA has devised a creative solution in recent years to combat that. It’s a program that gets 14-17-year-olds officiating for lower-level games with a mentor.

“They’re not perfect, but I don’t think our players or coaches are perfect either so we got to work together to improve the sportsmanship aspect,” said Cope.

If you’re interested in becoming a sports official, click here for more information.