Stats that stood out from Kentucky's 13-12 loss to No. 1 Georgia
Stats that stood out from Kentucky's 13-12 loss to No. 1 Georgia
Kentucky had a terrific opportunity to pull off a monumental upset at home against No. 1 Georgia. Unfortunately, a questionable call for a punt late in the fourth quarter allowed the Bulldogs to ice away a closer-than-expected 13-12 victory. Although there wasn’t much offense to go around, there were plenty of notable stats and numbers that stood out.
For starters, hats off to senior kicker Alex Raynor. The former Georgia Southern transfer scored the first points of the game with a 55-yard field goal, the longest in program history. According to UK statistician Corey Price, Raynor became just the second-ever Wildcat to hit two 50-yarders in one game (Joe Bryant vs. Georgia in 1977) — he also drilled a 51-yarder in the second half. In fact, Raynor scored all 12 of Kentucky’s points thanks to his impressive leg. In addition to his two 50+ yard kicks, he made ones from 40 and 32 yards out.
Next, we’ll give the Kentucky defense some credit. Brad White‘s unit didn’t allow a touchdown until early in the fourth quarter. Georgia finished with just 262 total yards of offense despite coming into the night averaging 472.5 per game through the first two weeks of the season. UK limited Georgia to a mere 65 total yards of offense through the opening two quarters, the fewest in a first half by the Bulldogs since 2009 against LSU.
UGA recorded just 12 first downs compared to Kentucky’s 23. Zion Childress, Ty Bryant, and D’Eryk Jackson all finished with six tackles each. The defense did everything it could to give the Wildcats a chance to win this ball game, a common theme in this series over the years.
Per ESPN Stats & Info, Georgia has only been held to under 20 points three times on the road over the last five seasons. All three have happened against Kentucky: 16 points in 2022, 14 points in 2020, and 13 points in 2024.
As for Barion Brown, after not coming down with a catch last week for the first time in his college career (27 games played to that point), the junior wide receiver hauled in his 100th career reception. That makes him just the 20th player in school history with at least 100 catches. Brown’s 18-yard reception in the first quarter against Georgia was UK’s longest play of the entire game.
Kentucky falls to 3-18 all-time against the No. 1 team in the nation. The one-point loss is the closest the ‘Cats have come in a defeat to the nation’s top-ranked program, the next closest being an 8-0 loss to Auburn in 1958. Georgia has now won 42 straight regular season games and 16 in a row against UK.
Overall, Kentucky outgained Georgia 284-262 while also winning the battle of the run game, 170-102. Demie Sumo-Karngbaye set new career highs in carries (22) and rushing yards (98) while redshirt freshman Jamarion Wilcox saw his first real college action, totaling 43 yards on nine carries. But for the second game in a row, UK failed to find the end zone.
One week ago an exasperated Mark Stoops lamented his team’s lack of resolve following an embarrassing loss to South Carolina. Kentucky added another tally to the loss column, but the Cats’ head coach did not question his team’s response following a nail-biting one-point loss to the No. 1 team in America.
It says a lot about them because let’s be honest, it was a hard week, and nobody around our facility felt very good, and we won’t feel very good tomorrow. But at least I know a little something about this team now,” said the Kentucky head coach.
“I like the way we fought and we responded and took to coaching. I think that’s what it comes down to is being precise with our execution. Everybody gets emotional. Our guys care. They want to win. They want to play well. But you know, it comes down to executing, and then you got to make competitive plays. There’s going to be moments in games, and there’s going to be moments this season where there’s going to be 50-50 plays and we got to make our fair share to win.”
Down, Never Out
Zion Childress made one of those game-changing, 50-50 plays that tilted the game in Kentucky’s favor. When the pick six was overturned after a review, fans were obviously disappointed, but you couldn’t see it in the players’ body language.
Brock Vandagriff did a much better job avoiding pressure than a week ago. When he was stripped from behind and Georgia recovered a fumble on the Kentucky 23-yard line, the defense did not roll over and let the Dawgs take the lead. They forced a field goal.
The Georgia offense finally broke the dam that was the Kentucky defense in the second half. When the 10-play, 68-yard drive ended with a touchdown, the Cats were cooked, at least we thought. The UK offense responded with an 11-play scoring drive to get within one, then the defense got one more stop to give Kentucky a chance to win.
To play and beat this team you were going to have to make plays, make competitive plays, and play extremely hard. I thought we did that. We had a good recipe to try to get this victory, just fell a little short,” said Stoops.
Kentucky Understands What It Takes To Win
Let’s all be honest with ourselves, optimism was few and far between from all reaches around Big Blue Nation. Many were willing to call this a lost season after week two. Instead of waving the white flag, Kentucky dug in and got back to the roots Mark Stoops established years ago.
“Our guys have to understand that it takes that kind of commitment and that kind of sacrifice to take care of themselves all throughout the week. These guys are going to be sore tomorrow, and they’re going to be sore Monday, and we’re going to put full pads on Tuesday, and we’re going to go hit each other and they’re going to hurt. That’s what we have to do,” said the Kentucky head coach.
“I think our guys need to understand that mentality. I hope we learn some things through the first three weeks of the season and we have to just continue to move forward.”
To use the head coach’s words, Kentucky is ten years past taking moral victories. A loss is a loss and they have two in the first quarter of the season. But this season is not lost. This team is not lost. They found something tonight and they’re prepared to turn it into something to be proud of.
