UK football hasn’t been compared to Georgia much over the years. Even though the Cats have split the last four meetings with the Bulldogs, Georgia still holds a 49-12-2 record in the series. But going into Saturday’s matchup, the teams have more in common than usual.

After a four-game losing streak earlier this year, Georgia (3-4, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) has won its last two SEC games by a combined score of 84-14. Both the Bulldogs, sparked by the return of wide receiver A.J. Green from an NCAA suspension, and the Cats (4-3, 1-3 SEC), coming off a streak-busting win over South Carolina, are riding tidal waves of momentum into Saturday’s game.

Keeping that momentum into the home stretch of the season by coming out with a win would make a major statement for either team.

“A loss would definitely set us back,” junior defensive tackle Mark Crawford said. “Losing is not an option.”

Also, both teams have suffered a pair of close losses. The Cats fell to Ole Miss and Auburn by a combined 10 points, while the Dawgs fell to Colorado and Arkansas by a combined nine points.

Trying to move past those losses presented challenges for both teams to overcome. Now, entering the second half of the season, UK and Georgia are both alive in the race for the division.

“We both started off slow, but right now, there’s six games left and we’re both trying to go 6-0,” Crawford said. “I want to say we’re both 1-0 right now and we’re trying to go undefeated.”

Sophomore wide receiver La’Rod King said he can see a lot of similarities. This year, the game is just as much of a chance for Georgia to make a statement as it usually is for UK.

“It’s huge, it’s huge especially for us,” King said. “Three losses can win the SEC East. This is make it or break it right now. This will determine how the rest of our season will go. If we win this game, I’m pretty sure we’ll win the rest of our games this season.”

Cobb apologizes for Twitter controversy

Junior wide receiver Randall Cobb put all the questions about his Sunday outburst on Twitter to rest while speaking to the media on Tuesday, apologizing for his strongly-worded message to fans.

“I want to start off by saying I made a mistake,” an all-smiles Cobb said. “I messed up, and I take blame for everything I said. I know I was wrong. I was wrong for the fact that I took a small percentage of our fan base and lumped them as one. That’s not how our fans are. 99.9 percent of our fans are great fans and they know that, they’ve been there supporting us through all the years.

“I’m a man, I admit my mistake and I just want to let everyone know I’m sorry. I hope they can forgive me.”

Shortly after Cobb posted the tweets, which criticized UK football fans for their lack of support of the team at times, he deleted them. Cobb said he immediately realized he was wrong to speak out on Twitter, and deleted the posts on his own accord before any UK staffers asked him to.

Cobb repeatedly apologized for his words, and explained that he was hoping to let fans know the team takes notice of booing and the amount of support from the fans.

“What I wanted to get out of it was to let others realize how we can tell what’s going on,” Cobb said. “We can hear you regardless of whether we respond. We know what’s being said and it hurts sometime. It really does.”

UK head coach Joker Phillips also announced that after again considering banning his players from Twitter, he decided to let them keep their accounts.