No. 1 Georgia (3-0) is set to face UAB (1-2) Saturday in Athens for its fourth straight home game.
The Bulldogs and Blazers have met three previous times, with the most recent being in 2021 in Athens.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart said on Monday to reporters that he’s very familiar with the UAB program.
“We’re moving on to UAB, and I’m excited to play these guys. I’ve known coach [Trent] Dilfer for a while,” Smart said. “I don’t have a personal relationship with him, but I do think a lot of him as a coach, their staff, I know a lot of guys on their staff. Eddie [Gordon], who was here with us for a long time, does an incredible job, and I am looking forward to playing those guys this week.”
The Blazers have struggled this season in Dilfer’s first season. UAB’s most recent loss was to the Louisiana-Lafeyette which came out on top 41-21 this past Saturday in Birmingham. The Blazers’ only victory so far this season was a 35-6 decision over North Carolina A&T in their opener.
Despite being the superior team, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart doesn’t want his players to get too confident. He said on Monday that Dilfer’s program has a bunch of great athletes and players.
“I don’t think the record indicates that, but they play and you watch them, and I’m like, ‘man, defensively they do some four-down and some three-down stuff.’ They’ve got really good backs, got good skill players, athletic quarterback who extends plays,” Smart explained. “They play really hard. They had a weird situation the other night with ULL, they had rain delay and different things, but they got a very talented football team, especially [within] their conference.”
UAB’s offense, which is run by Dilfer, can present a number of problems for Georgia’s defensive unit. The Blazers have a balanced offense, which can attack the Bulldogs from both sides of the field.
UAB quarterback Jacob Zeno loves to spread the ball out to his wide receivers on the perimeter. He’s passed for 956 yards and six touchdowns with an 80.3 percent completion percentage so far in 2023.
Smart is familiar with Dilfer’s coordinator, Alex Mortenson, who was previously at Alabama with him.
“Alex Mortensen was at Alabama forever, Chris Mortensen’s son. He was at Alabama and behind all the offenses, worked with Bill O’Brien, worked with Sark, was there when I was there,” Smart said. “I have a lot of respect for Alex. He waited his turn, and he got an opportunity to go be the coordinator there. So I see a lot of flavor in his offense of a lot of the offenses that have been there at Alabama, and I’m sure Trent imparts his knowledge on that as well.”
Georgia and UAB will kick off at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 23 between the hedges at Sanford Stadium.