A Familiar Result For The Cats
After a dismal performance a week ago against Missouri Mark Stoops’ Cats looked to bounce back against Georgia. The Cats had a new quarterback under center for the game. However it didn’t prove to be that much of a spark. The Bulldogs got a huge game from Zamir White with a 137 yards on the ground and a touchdown. Other than stopping White the defense played well enough to win. Unfortunately, the offense continued to sputter and as a result Kentucky falls to Georgia 14-3.
Offense Struggles Again
With Terry Wilson out due to a wrist injury, the Cats turned to Joey Gatewood at quarterback. On the day he completed 15 of 25 passes for 91 yards and ran for another 23. However he had one costly fumble in the second half as Kentucky was in Georgia territory. At the time UK trailed 14-3 and had the Cats scored there it could have been a totally different game. On their final three possessions Kentucky punted, turned it over on downs and then finally the end of the game.
Another possession which drove the Big Blue Nation crazy was right before the end of the first half. Phil Hoskins intercepted a Stetson Bennett pass stopping a Bulldog drive. However the Cats couldn’t capitalize as they ran the ball twice, was sacked and then punted. The lack of urgency was frustrating to say the least. For the game Kentucky had 229 yards of total offense, nearly adding to a dubious statistic. So far in 2020 the Wildcats are the only SEC team with under 200 yards of total offense in a game, and they’ve now done it in two straight. In addition they’ve been under 300 yards in four of their six games. With the current era of “pinball football” going on everywhere else it’s so frustrating to Kentucky fans. Add it all up and it’s easy to see why Kentucky falls to Georgia 14-3.
One bright spot was Christopher Rodriguez, who continues to have a breakout season. In rushing for 108 yards he became only the second player to crack the century mark against the Bulldogs in their last 26 games. The other was Alabama’s Najee Harris two weeks ago. Kentucky has some of the best running backs and offensive line in the SEC, however they continue to struggle on offense. Whether it falls on offensive coordinator Eddie Gran or Stoops, they now have two weeks to figure things out.
What’s crazy about UK’s Offense is it has:
– A top level Offensive Line
– A potentially very good Running Back
– A QB who is 14-6 at Kentucky
Yet the offense is dreadful game after game
That needs explanation
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) October 31, 2020
The Defense Played Well Again
If you read our preview of the game we said in order to win the game Kentucky had to force turnovers. They picked off two Bennett passes giving the team 11 picks for the year, tied for tops in college football. However the offense only got three points out of it. When that happens it’s tough to win especially in the SEC. For the game Kentucky only allowed 346 yards which is impressive considering Kirby Smart’s team has been well over 400 yards in each of the last four games. Jamin Davis was the star with 13 tackles and a pass deflection. How good has the defense been? Take a look at this stat.
Kentucky has their fewest combined points allowed in a span of 4 SEC games (43) since their last 4 SEC games of the 1977 season (30)
— Corey Price (@coreyp08) October 31, 2020
Unfortunately the Cats are only 2-2 in those games with the major reason being the offense.
Looking Ahead
With the loss the Cats fall to 2-4 on the season. In the process a fifth straight winning season now seems unlikely as they still play Alabama and Florida in the coming weeks. After six straight weeks of SEC football Kentucky has a much needed bye week before returning to action on November 14th when they host Vanderbilt. The Commodores played their first game in three weeks on Saturday losing 54-21 to Ole Miss.
As for the Bulldogs they improve to 4-1 in 2020. In addition they run their winning streak against Kentucky to 11, which is their longest streak against UK in history. Next week they face Florida in the annual big game in Jacksonville. Of course that game was originally scheduled for last week but was postponed due to COVID-19 problems with the Gators. In our latest latest bowl projections we had the Bulldogs in the Orange Bowl. We’ll see if they move up when the next picks come out on Tuesday. We have the Wildcats in the Music City Bowl, however they may drop down a game or two.
Again Kentucky falls to Georgia 14-3 as the Wildcat offense again gets little accomplished. They now have two weeks to get things straightened out before playing Vandy. Thanks for checking this and all the other great content here at Last Word On College Football out.
