Georgia (1-0) will host Ball State (0-1) for its second game of the 2023 season on Saturday. The Bulldogs come off a 48-7 win over UT-Martin while the Cardinals lost to Kentucky 44-14 on the opening weekend of the season.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart doesn’t want his players to overlook Ball State. He said with no school on Monday due to Labor Day, the Bulldogs were able to start preparing for the Cardinals a day early.
“I think they’ve got a good football team,” Smart said Monday. “I don’t know coach Mike Neu well but going to get to meet him. Got a lot of respect for their conference. We played Kent State out of this conference last year and the MAC has done an incredible job of creating a good football environment with some good football teams. So, we got to put the last game to bed this morning, which we don’t usually get to do on Monday. With no school, we were able to jump ahead.”
Georgia will face a familiar face Saturday in Cardinals’ running back Marquez Cooper, who is a transfer from Kent State.
Cooper rushed for 90 yards and a touchdown while hauling in two passes for 40 yards in the loss to the Bulldogs last year, but now, he’s a huge contributor for Ball State.
Smart thinks highly of Cooper, who struggled in his debut for the Cardinals with 33 yards on 15 rushes.
“[He’s a] really physical, downhill, power runner, good back,” Smart said of Cooper. “Our guys were talking about him just this morning about how powerful he was and how ironic it is you’re playing against him again at a different school in the same conference. We have a lot of respect for him.”
Ball State held an early 7-3 lead over Kentucky in the first quarter but got outscored 37-7 the rest of the game. The Cardinals’ offense couldn’t find a rhythm as the Wildcats took over down the stretch.
Ball State was led by quarterback Kadin Semonza, who completed 15 of 21 passes for 165 yards and a score. Wideouts Ty Robinson (90 yards, TD) and Tanner Koziol (66 yards) also stepped up.
Despite giving up 44 points, the Cardinals’ defense held Kentucky’s offense to under 400 total yards. Ball State was able to force a turnover and intercept Wildcat quarterback Devin Leary as well.
Smart’s initial thoughts on the Cardinals were that they are impressive on both sides of the ball.
“Very impressed on both sides of the ball. They’re up 7-3 on Kentucky in the second quarter. I watched the game, and I am like, ‘Man, these guys are a really good team.’ We had watched them in the off-season because we wouldn’t have but one game on them, and the young quarterback’s playing really well. They do a good job mixing it up in terms of bringing the athletic quarterback in,” Smart said. “They’ve had some tough injuries, but they have a really good football team.”