FINAL: Late Kentucky Rally Falls Short in 16-6 Loss to Georgia

by:Nick Roush•11/19/22•

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Despite the deflating loss to Vanderbilt, Kentucky came ready to play against No. 1 Georgia. The Cats went toe-to-toe with the defending National Champs. A goal line stand and a 99-yard touchdown drive gave Kentucky a chance, but the fourth quarter rally came up short. The Wildcats missed too many opportunities in a 16-6 loss, the 13th-straight in the series.

The Kentucky defense gave the Wildcats a chance and Barion Brown delivered with a big performance. The true freshman caught passes of 31, 42 and 47 yards, finishing the day with 10 receptions for 145 yards and a touchdown. Ultimately, the big plays were too little, too late. Kentucky had three scoring opportunities result in zero points, a similar refrain that’s cost the Cats losses throughout the 2022 season.

The Wildcats drop to 6-5 (3-5) ahead of the regular season finale against Louisville at Kroger Field.

A Relatively Painless First Half

The game went about exactly how it needed to go for Kentucky to have a chance. Despite a bizarre opening kickoff return, a 31-yard pass to Brown got the Wildcats’ offense moving. They picked up three first downs and had a 2nd and 1 on the 31-yard line before Georgia moved Kentucky backwards, leading to a turnover on downs.

Kentucky’s defense bent, but did not break, a common theme for Brad White’s unit. After only allowing a field goal, Will Levis and the UK offense were off and running once again. This time a couple runs by the QB in critical situations got the Cats down inside the red zone. Rich Scangarello dialed up his specialty — run, run, pass — ending with Kelee Ringo interception in the end zone.

Textbook pick for Kelee Ringo. pic.twitter.com/4Pcb9aaShB
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) November 19, 2022

Kentucky got zero points out of two scoring opportunities, all while the defense forced the Dawgs to kick three field goals to take a 9-0 lead into the locker room.

Big-Time Play by the Kentucky Defense

On the verge of letting the game slip away, the Kentucky defense made the big play the Cats desperately needed. Georgia got the ball first to start the second half. After picking up a few first downs to reach midfield, Todd Monken dialed up a deep shot. There was a miscommunication between Stetson Bennett and his wide receiver. Jordan Lovett was in the perfect position to capitalize on the mistake, recording the first interception of his young career.

Not what Stetson Bennett had in mind. pic.twitter.com/8DxSHDqiy7
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) November 19, 2022

The Kentucky Defense Holds On

As the BBN has seen many times before, the defense could only bend for so long before finally breaking. Following the Lovett interception, the Kentucky offense went three-and-out, its second straight. Smelling blood in the water, Georgia went to the ground. The Dawgs ran it on seven of eight plays, moving the ball 58 yards before Kenny McIntosh punched it in for the first touchdown of the day with 6:22 on the clock.

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The Kentucky offense followed it up with another three-and-out, this time thanks to a third down drop beyond the sticks. Three plays later Jordan Wright broke an a pass and for a moment, it looked like the Cats had a pick six. The senior outside linebacker narrowly missed and it turned into a 35-yard gain.

All hope was lost. The air was sucked out of the stadium. Yet after allowing a couple of chunk plays, the Cats held strong. Deone Walker and Jamarius Dinkins provided run stuffs on third and fourth down to keep Georgia points off the scoreboard.

A 99-Yard Kentucky Touchdown Drive Out of Nowhere

Unless you had UGA-22.5, the goal line stand felt inconsequential, particularly with the way the Kentucky offense had played thus far. Then the Rich Scangarello’s offense came alive. Levis got things rolling with his legs, Chris Rodriguez moved the pile and Barion Brown got free for a 42-yard bomb down the field. The Cats were confident, moving the sticks with first down throws. They shared no resemblance to the unit that went three-and-out on three straight possessions.

Back in scoring territory, the familiar script was on the forefront of every Kentucky fan’s mind. This time the Cats did not shoot themselves in the foot. Levis found Brown a few more times, connecting with the true freshman on fourth and two to score an 8-yard touchdown. Even though the two-point conversion failed, the 99-yard touchdown drive gave the Wildcats new life.

Another Special Teams Mistake

Once again, the Kentucky defense was ready to stop a Top 10 Georgia offense. The Wildcats quickly gave the ball back to the offense and Levis was back to throwing bombs to Barion. Brown caught a 47-yarder to put the Wildcats within striking range. He also caught a clutch pass on third and long to move the ball into the red zone.

Even though the drive stalled out, Kentucky only needed to make a 38-yard field goal to get within one score with five minutes to play. That shouldn’t be too much to ask for, right? Wrong. A bad snap, a bad hold, a hard line-drive left and the Cats were officially out of reach with another missed kick. Ruffolo entered the season with only six misses in his career. He now has eight in 2022.