Kentucky leads No. 1 Georgia 6-3 at the half

Well, well, well… Where was this Kentucky team last week?

At the half against top-ranked Georgia, the Wildcats lead — yes, lead — the Bulldogs by a low score of 6-3 at Kroger Field in Lexington. After getting embarrassed last weekend by South Carolina, Mark Stoops‘ team was injected with a shot of energy and it has them putting up a real fight against the Bulldogs, which hasn’t lost a regular season game since 2020.

As the score indicates, the first two quarters were a defensive slugfest. Georgia and Kentucky punted a combined 12 times. The Bulldogs managed just 65 total yards of offense (the fewest in a first half by the Bulldogs since 2009) compared to 130 for the Wildcats. UK did record 12 first downs while Georgia went for just three, but the ‘Cats just couldn’t find the end zone.

Quarterback Brock Vandagriff, who did cough up a fumble ahead of the halftime break, looked much better compared to last week, throwing for 59 yards on 9-14 passing, but the offense as a whole struggled to consistently move the chains against a stout Georgia defense. Demie Sumo-Karngbaye ran for 56 yards on 13 carries to keep the Georgia defense honest.

Georgia running back Trevor Etienne, who suffered a shoulder injury in the first half, was ruled “out for now” by head coach Kirby Smart as his team went into the halftime locker room.

Kentucky kicker Alex Raynor is the only one with points on the board for the ‘Cats. The senior drilled a 55-yarder late in the first quarter, the longest made field goal in program history, before knocking in a 32-yard kick with seconds to go in the half. Georgia kicker Peyton Woodring got the Bulldogs on the board with a 34-yarder in the second quarter.

To say this score was unexpected is an understatement. Kentucky was a three-touchdown underdog before kickoff. Now let’s see if UK can repeat the same thing for another 30 minutes.