LEXINGTON, Ky., — When Georgia’s offense needed to make it plays it did. It scored a go-ahead touchdown to take the lead in the fourth quarter and milked the clock to all but put away Kentucky.
But that the Bulldogs found itself in that situation where it needed to make plays in the fourth quarter to eke out a 13-12 win over Kentucky is far from ideal.
For the second time in three games, Georgia did not score a touchdown in the opening half. The Bulldogs had just 63 yards at halftime, the fewest ever under Smart.
“Define playing with fire. Not scoring in the first place?? I wouldn’t call that playing with fire. I’d call it not playing. Right,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “Like playing with fire is like, I guess you’re talking about dangerous.I’m talking about playing with your hair on fire and playing hard. I do think they play hard. I think that we have a really good offensive staff. We have a really good offense. We have people around them, and we’ve got a good quarterback. We’ve got to do a good job and go out and execute.”
Carson Beck had a career-low 160 passing yards. Georgia was actually outgained on the evening by Kentucky, even though Kentucky quarterback Brock Vandagriff didn’t eclipse 100 yards passing until there were just three seconds left in the game.
Just a week after Beck said his goal was to not let punter Brett Thorson play, Georgia punted six times. By comparison, it had only five third-down conversions.
“We knew that it was going to be a dogfight coming in,” Beck said. “We knew that it was going to have to be blow by blow. Obviously, there’s things I think we can fix. Got to watch the film and try to improve on those, but, I mean, they’re a physical team and there’s a lot of respect there, but we were able to pull it out.”
Beck was far from his usual self, as he didn’t throw for a touchdown for the first time this season. He dropped a key second down snap in the fourth quarter and had a handful of poor throws on the evening.
It didn’t help that Georgia lost Tate Raltedge in the second quarter to knee and ankle injuries. Georgia struggled to run the ball in the first half, with the ground game only really improving when Trevor Etienne was able to unlock some things.
On Georgia’s lone touchdown drive of the night, Etienne accounted for 50 of the 68 yards. Getting him more involved — he was battling a shoulder injury during the game — could help cure some of Georgia’s offensive woes.
“The guy ran, I mean, he made something out of nothing about eight times,” Smart said. “Some of those were some of the best runs we’ve had all year because people standing in the hole unblocked and he’s making them miss and getting extra yards. A lot of respect for the way he played.”
Etienne ran for 79 of Georgia’s 102 rushing yards. Georgia had only 262 yards of offense, its fewest since the 2021 season-opener against Clemson.
In some ways, Georgia has been here before. The Bulldogs haven’t scored more than 20 points in Kentucky since 2018. The vaunted 2022 Georgia team, which went 15-0 and was orchestrated by Heisman Trophy finalist Stetson Bennett and Broyles Award nominee Todd Monken, scored just 16 points in a 16-6 win.
Smart pointed out that this was also Georgia’s first road game of the season. We’ve seen in the 2022 season, Missouri, and 2023 season, Auburn, that Georgia is going to have one of these games a year. While it wasn’t a sell-out crowd, Kentucky did have some impact on how the Georgia offense played.
“They do things. We do things,” Smart said. “I mean, to me, the only thing the night thing does is bring the atmosphere up a little higher because fan base is sometimes inebriated.”
Georgia’s next game though will be in a similar environment. The Bulldogs travel to Alabama, a program that Smart is just 1-5 against. The game will be played at night and there will likely put an even bigger spotlight on the Georgia team and program.
With an offensive performance like the one Georgia had against Kentucky, it leads to some valid questions about Beck, the direction of the offense under Mike Bobo, the offensive line and just about everything else.
“I actually think Kentucky’s got a really good defense, and I think Clemson’s got a really good defense,” Smart said. “I think we’ve got a really good offense. So we’ve got to do a better job of starting faster.”
Georgia doesn’t have to have an immediate fix, as the Bulldogs are off next week. That allows Georgia to get healthier on both sides of the ball.
And it does give Georgia the chance to find some answers it clearly needs.
“Thankfully, we have a bye week, so we’ll see,” Beck said.
