In this Cats Illustrated feature, our staff offers its first impressions of Kentucky's rain-soaked defensive battle between the hedges. No. 10 Georgia pulled away late for a 21-0 victory over the Cats, who struggled to move the ball offensively and were shut out for the first time in 84 games.
JUSTIN ROWLAND:
I'm just starting to view this as a throwaway season in terms of what it means for the state of the program. The quarterback situation makes it really impossible to judge how the offense would have fared and the defense is wearing down at times as a consequence. Kentucky played an outstanding first half. UGA didn't push them around. That says a lot about the state of the roster and bodes well for the future. They just had no margin for error in this game with the weather, UGA's talent, and the quarterback issues. So you can't overcome a series of penalties and a shanked punt.
TRAVIS GRAF:
Kentucky played what was arguably its best game of the season on defense. You could tell that the Cats were worn down towards the end of the game, with the offense unable to sustain drives. Moving forward, UK has to hope that Sawyer Smith is healthy. Opponents are going to find out that it’s pretty simple to stop the Kentucky offense with Lynn Bowden at quarterback. There wasn’t much to take away from this sloppy game other than the Cats defense played well for three quarters, Kentucky shot themselves in the foot at a couple of key times during the game and it was the definition of a one-dimensional game on offense.
JEFF DRUMMOND:
This game appeared to be going about as well as Kentucky could have hoped until midway through the third quarter. The Cats needed a short, fast game where the possibility of a mistake or two by Georgia could have opened the door for an upset. Unfortunately, it was UK who made nearly all the mistakes. Back-breaking offensive line penalties, a shanked punt to help give the Bulldogs their first points of the night, a fumble that led to UGA's second score, and a dropped TD pass by the Cats all contributed to the game getting out of hand. It's a shame it wound up being 21-0. I'm not endorsing the "moral victory" concept here, but the defense deserved a better outcome. The biggest thing we learned tonight is, as admirable a job as Lynn Bowden did the last two weeks as an emergency quarterback, UK has to get Sawyer Smith back near full health in order to win three of the last five games and get back to another bowl game.
