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Kirby Smart unhappy with Georgia's short-yardage woes vs. Kentucky

On3 imageby:Jake Rowe•11/19/22•

JakeMRowe

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Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Georgia had its chance to really put Kentucky away on Saturday. The Bulldogs won 16-6 but there was a point in the late third and early fourth quarters when Kirby Smart’s team had a chance to put Kentucky by four scores.

That opportunity came in the form of two chances at the Kentucky one-yard line. Georgia was stoned on third down and the same came of the fourth-down play as the field flipped to start the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs would have taken a 23-0 lead and the final score would have ended up more like what folks thought coming in.

“To get one yard, you should be able to get one yard,” Smart said after the game. “You’ve got to be able to get those. We got eight, nine yards a lot of times. We rushed for 250, so getting one shouldn’t be the end of the world. But we didn’t in those situations, we’ve got to be better in situational football, and we didn’t.”

Smart also said after the game that if you don’t get it there, the other team is backed up to the one-yard line. That’s the toughest of tough places to start a drive but Kentucky didn’t have a ton of trouble. It went 99 yards on nine plays to cut the Georgia lead to 16-6. It stayed that way as the Wildcats failed on the two-point attempt.

It wasn’t the only time Georgia struggled in short yardage. It also failed to get a 3rd and 1 late in the game, giving the ball back to Kentucky with a prayer’s chance of winning the game. There was just over two and a half minutes left and the home team was down by two scores.

“We didn’t get much movement,” Smart said. “The first time we got blew up at guard when we down at the end where we come out. And then the quarter change over, we came back out and didn’t get much movement. It’s a play that’s a statement play, it’s an identity play. You got to be more physical than them and they were more physical than us. Kentucky does a good job. They know how to stop the run and they’ve got good players, too.”

Meanwhile Georgia had no trouble running the ball outside of the Kentucky 10-yard line. The Bulldogs piled up 247 rushing yards with an average of 5.4 yards per carry. That average includes two team rushes for negative two yards total as the Bulldogs kneeled to end it.

Kenny McIntosh put together a career day, running it 19 times for 143 yards and a score. Kendall Milton also had 31 yards on six carries. Next up for UGA is Georgia Tech at home in one week. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. ET on ESPN and it’ll be Senior Day.

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