Kirby said that “no one wants to see a 9-6 game”…. Well, that wasn’t the score but sure felt like it was that ugly. But, UGA left Lexington with the win and with all of the team’s goals still in front of them. Stetson Bennett only passed 13 times, while a shorthanded backfield amassed over 200 yards on the ground.
Zamir White average 5.8 yards per carry and totaled 136 yards on 26 carries. UGA’s rush success rate was 57%, their second highest of the season. Dawgs ran it successfully on 59% of attempts against Auburn.
The defense left Kroger field banged up, but made the plays necessary to keep Kentucky out of the end zone. The Wildcats came into Saturday 7th in offensive success rate, and UGA held them below their season average of 45%. Kentucky was held to a season low of 3.4 YPP and a success rate of 34%. Kentucky did move the ball on the ground against the Dawgs to the tune of a 47% success rate and 4.5 YPC. These were below the season average for the Wildcats.. But, the defense held UK to 3 yards or less on 18 runs.
Dawgs’ pass defense was stifling. Including sack yards, UGA allowed UK to be successful on only 21% of drop backs and 2.1 YPA with 4 sacks. The Wildcats’ longest completion only went for 11 yards, and 7 completions went for 5 or less yards.
Now for the bad. Stetson Bennett had another underwhelming performance. Which is disheartening considering that the offense clearly wanted to put the game in the hands and on the legs of the running game. Even with limited drop backs, Stetson had a batted ball interception, a red zone pick and a fumble on a rush which Fitzpatrick covered up. His numbers weren’t terrible. He had 8.9 YPA and 131 yards with a 43% success rate.
That play to Washington was a great pass with a nice touch. On the batted ball, seems like Bennett had a pocket that he could step into to make an easier throw rather than throw over the lineman. Coach mentioned that they were working on ball security, and even though that fumble was recovered – it is still not the progress anyone wanted to see.