Kenny McIntosh, Georgia running backs carry Bulldogs in win

LEXINGTON, Kent. — Georgia coach Kirby Smart talked all week long about how physical Saturday’s game against Kentucky would be. People probably thought he was primarily talking about when the Wildcats had the ball, but little did they know the Bulldogs were going to be physical too. Whether it was the wind or a part of the game, Georgia ran the ball a season-high 46 times on Saturday, totaling 247 yards on the ground. The star of that show was senior running back Kenny McIntosh, who led the team in carries, yards and scored the only touchdown of the game for Georgia on its way to a 16-6 win in Lexington.

After Georgia’s only turnover of the game – a Stetson Bennett interception where it looked there was a miscommunication between him and Ladd McConkey and the wind did him no favors – the Bulldogs came back strong. They had three first half possessions and ended up with three first half field goals. They knew they needed a second half touchdown, and got it on their first possession after the interception. Bennett handed the ball off seven times on the eight play drive as Georgia went 58 yards down the field, capped off by McIntosh’s 9-yard touchdown run.

“It was real big,” McIntosh said about the play. “We had been driving the ball the whole field but we knew we needed to score on that drive. We wanted to come out strong and get the ball rolling again on the ground. They were preaching the whole halftime that we needed to start strong and be physical coming out, definitely on the line of scrimmage.”

McIntosh, who wore a ski mask and spoke on the cold weather coming into the game, knew that the run game was likely to be a bigger part of the plan. Winds of 15-20 miles per hour and freezing cold temperatures typically call for that. But for him and the rest of his Bulldog teammates, they knew they couldn’t let the conditions dictate how they played.

“We preached all week, ‘Anywhere and no matter what the circumstances are.’ I’m not the only one out there cold. All my brothers are out there cold. We knew we had to go out there and execute the plan and get the job done,” McIntosh said. “The cold wasn’t really affecting us … The wind was blowing hard, so we wanted to keep the ball on the ground. It was hard, especially going against the wind. We really wanted to keep the ball on the ground, and the backs picked up and executed and went out there and ran hard, physical and did what we needed to do to help this team win.”

McIntosh’s efforts resulted in a career-best performance from the Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. native. Coming into the game, his 16 carries and 90 yards on the ground against the Florida Gators earlier this season was the best that he had done. Turning 19 carries into 143 yards, McIntosh rewrote his record book.

“Kenny ran the ball really well tonight, physical,” Smart said in his postgame press conference. “He tucked the ball up. I thought the offensive line was really physical, did a really good job in the run game to be able to get the ball out of there a couple of times. For him to hit 140 (yards), what’d he hit? 143, awesome. Probably could have had more but he shared the load with some other guys and Kendall (Milton) did a good job when he came in. I thought all those guys ran the ball well.”

Georgia is back in action this coming Saturday for the finale of the regular season. McIntosh is expected to be among the seniors recognized the pregame ceremony for Senior Day before the Bulldogs take on in-state rival Georgia Tech, looking to close out a second straight unbeaten regular season before trying to win their first SEC Championship Game since 2017. Kickoff time is slated for 12:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.