LEXINGTON, Ky. -- For more than three hours Saturday night at an electric Kroger Field, it appeared that Kentucky may have a shot at doing what was unthinkable when the college football world woke up on this day.
The Wildcats, who were coming off one of the worst performances of the Mark Stoops era last week against South Carolina, went toe to toe with No. 1 Georgia deep into the fourth quarter before the Bulldogs escaped with a hard-fought 13-12 win.
Georgia trailed the entire game before Branson Robinson broke through for a 3-yard touchdown run to give the Bulldogs a 13-9 lead with 12:20 remaining in the fourth quarter. It proved to be the only touchdown of the game.
Kentucky got its fourth field goal of the night from Alex Raynor, a 51-yarder with 8:01 remaining, to pull within one point. The Wildcats came up with a defensive stop and had one more chance to drive for a game-winning score, but Georgia forced a punt with three minutes to go and converted a 33-yard pass from Carson Beck to Dominic Lovett to all but ice the game.
After one more defensive stand, the Wildcats got the ball back with nine seconds remaining at their own 20, but could not come up with the miracle play at the buzzer.
“Immense amount of respect for Coach Stoops," Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said of Kentucky. "The atmosphere, the culture he created here. I tried to tell everybody all week, nobody listened to me.
"When they get disrespected like they did last week and they listen to it for a week, they come out ready to play."
Georgia (3-0, 1-0 SEC) extended its regular-season win streak to 42 games as well as its winning streak over the Wildcats to 15.
Kentucky (1-2, 0-2 SEC) rejected the notion of a "moral victory," but took pride in a vastly improved showing from Week 2.
"You know, one heck of a football game," Stoops said. "Really proud of our players, the way they fought and competed. I thought our coaches did a really good job this week because you can imagine a very challenging week coming off the way we performed seven days ago in this stadium.
"We had to rebound and play the No. 1 ranked team in the country, and we came out and played them toe to toe. No flukes, no gimmicks... I'm not saying I'm pleased with the moral victory. We are 10 years past that. I do care about the way we play. I do care about the preparation. I care about the way we represent the fan base and the way we represent the university with the way we play."
Kentucky outgained the Bulldogs 284-262, including 170 yards on the ground. Demie Sumo-Karngbaye rushed 22 times for 98 yards, and Jamarion Wilcox added 43 yards on nine carries.
The Wildcats also recorded 23 first downs compared to just 12 for Georgia. The Bulldogs' 262 total yards were their lowest total since gaining 260 against Texas A&M in 2019.
But the Bulldogs came up with the biggest drive of the game, 10-play, 68-yard march capped by Robinson's fourth-quarter touchdown run from the 3. The key score was set up by four big plays from running back Trevor Etienne, who had runs of 17, 12, and 8 yards to go along with an 11-yard reception from Beck.
Etienne led UGA with 79 yards rushing on 19 carries.
Beck, who carved the UK defense up for a career-high 389 yards and four touchdowns in last year's 51-13 win in Athens, was held to 160 yards and no scores through the air by UK's inspired defense.
"I mean, say what you want about Kentucky's defense, but Kentucky's defense is pretty good to me," Smart said. "We’ll judge that at the end of the year, and I think people are looking at that the wrong way (due to) the South Carolina game."
Raynor connected on field goals from 55, 32, 40, and 51 yards for Kentucky. He set a new school record with the 55-yarder in the first quarter and extended his streak of made field goals to 10 dating back to 2023.
The Georgia defense has yet to allow a touchdown this season, surrendering only six field goals through three games.
Former Georgia quarterback Brock Vandagriff completed a career-high 14 of his 27 pass attempts for 114 yards in the loss as the Cats went their second straight game without finding the end zone.
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In this "Rapid Recap" feature, we touch on some quick-hitters from the UK loss...
KEY MOMENT:
Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops rolled the dice and sparked some controversy when he elected to punt the ball away near midfield on 4th-and-7 with just over three minutes remaining. But the UK boss had faith in his defense to get the ball back and give the Cats one more shot at a game-winning field goal. Those hopes were spoiled, however, when Georgia quarterback Carson Beck threw a perfect strike to receiver Dominic Lovett for a 33-yard gain that allowed the Bulldogs to move the chains and burn almost all of the remaining time off the clock.
GAME BALL:
The Kentucky Defense -- We don't typically hand this out to a member of the losing team, but the Wildcats' performance on that side of the ball deserves some special recognition. Senior safety Zion Childress had six tackles, a tackle for loss, and a pass break-up to lead the spirited effort. Fellow safety Ty Bryant added six tackles and a forced fumble.
BY THE NUMBERS:
2nd - Player in Kentucky program history, kicker Alex Raynor, to hit two 50-yard field goals in the same game. The other, Joe Bryant, kicked two against Georgia in 1977.
3 - Times that Georgia has been held to 20 points or less in a road game during the last five years, all three at Kentucky. The Bulldogs have scored just 43 points in their last three trips to Lexington.
13 - Points were the lowest allowed by UK to a No. 1-ranked opponent since 1959, a 9-0 loss to LSU.
43 - Combined points scored by Georgia in its last three trips to Lexington.
64-12-2 - Georgia's lead in the all-time series against UK.
QUOTABLE:
"They played with energy and physicality; they played a great game. Props to them... That is simply just a very good team." -- Georgia wide receiver Dominic Lovett on the UK defense.
UP NEXT:
Kentucky returns to action next week against Ohio. Kickoff at Kroger Field is slated for 12:45 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.
