National

Kent St. coach: No. 1 Georgia has 'greatest collection of talent that's ever been assembled'

Kent State coach Sean Lewis is in awe of the players Kirby Smart has recruited to and developed at Georgia.

The Golden Flashes are No. 1 Georgia’s Week 4 opponent and Lewis told reporters Tuesday that he thought the defending national champion Bulldogs were the most talented college football team ever.

"I don't think it's an exaggeration to say it's the greatest collection of talent that's ever been assembled on a football team, because of the work of Coach (Kirby) Smart, his staff, and the tireless, relentless effort that they've put into building a program to an elite, elite level," Lewis said. "It's a tremendous test, a tremendous opportunity; they're uber-talented."

It’s not easy to disagree with Lewis after Georgia beat Alabama for the national title and the way it’s started the 2022 season. The Bulldogs have outscored their three opponents 130-10 and the closest game was a 33-0 shutout over FCS opponent Samford in a game where Georgia was able to cruise and play a lot of player. Fifteen Bulldogs caught a pass in that game.

Georgia’s early-season dominance is even more impressive when you consider how much talent left for the NFL after the 2021 season. Five Georgia defenders were drafted in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft and fifteen Bulldogs were taken over the draft’s seven rounds. Eleven players were selected in the first four rounds.

Georgia has had top-five recruiting classes in each of the last six seasons and had the No. 1 recruiting class in Rivals' rankings in 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Given Lewis' comments, it's easy to guess that his team is a massive underdog on Saturday. Georgia is a 46.5-point favorite over the Golden Flashes at BetMGM and is -10000 to win straight up. That means if you bet $10 on a Georgia win by any score, you would make a 10-cent profit on the bet if Georgia wins. Kent State, meanwhile, is +2500 on the money line and tied with Vanderbilt — who plays at No. 2 Alabama on Saturday — for the longest odds to win in Week 4.