Thursday March 28th, 2024 8:26AM

The Last Time: Georgia at Kentucky

Normally at this point in the season, Kentucky fans have already checked out of football, awaiting basketball season's official start.

Instead, they're participating in a winner-take-all home game for the SEC East, like we all predicted.

If you did, in fact, predict the Wildcats would be in the hunt at this point in the season, please tell Biff I said hello when you hop back in the DeLorean.

I can't believe that I would ever line in world where I could legitimately be more stressed about playing Kentucky than I was about playing Florida.

But let's try to put those fears to bed. (Or stoke the flames, I don't know. I haven't written the stats yet, as I write this intro, so it's possible it could point badly.)

The last time...

1) These teams met:

It was another ho-hum blowout of the 2017 Georgia football season.

After Kentucky closed the gap to 21-13 in the third quarter, the Dawgs put the clamps down and ran away with a 42-13 win.

Nick Chubb and Sony Michel accounted for a 'nother-day-at-the-office 238 yards and 5 touchdowns.

Yawn.

2) Georgia lost immediately following a win over Florida:

It's been more than two decades since the Bulldogs beat the Gators, and lost the next week.

Perhaps that more a testament to: A) Georgia doesn't usually play a tough opponent in that slot, and B) it hasn't beaten Florida very much over that span.

In 1997, Jim Donnan ended a seven-year drought in the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party with a 37-17 victory (That score is eerily similar.) then lost to Auburn the next week, 45-34.

Since then, the Dawgs have beaten the Gators six times, and won their next game every single time.

3) Kentucky won the SEC East, which it can clinch with a win Saturday:

Never.

Next question.

4) Georgia failed to rush for 200 yards against Kentucky:

The Wildcats have been nothing but dominant on defense so far this season, holding opponents to an average of 108 rushing yards per game, good for 17th-best in the country. (The Dawgs are at 145 ypg, for comparison.)

So it wouldn't come as a surprise if on Saturday, for the first time since 2012, Kentucky held Georgia under 200 rushing yards.

The Dawgs still won that year, 29-24, thanks to a pin-point night from Aaron Murray, who finished a blistering 30-for-38 for 427 yards, 4 touchdowns and no interceptions.

Since then, the Bulldogs have pounded Kentucky with rushing outputs of: 230, 305, 300, 215 and 381 yards.

5) Kentucky gained more first downs than Georgia:

Let's travel back in time to a game where Washaun Elaley set a school record. The Bulldog running back scored five touchdowns in the Bulldogs 44-31 win in Lexington back in 2010.

It highlighted a strange night, as Georgia managed only 13 first downs, and Todd Grantham's still incredible defense surrendered 22 first downs (not to mention 9-of-15 on third down).

Since then the Bulldogs have out-first-downed the Cats 16-10, 25-21, 35-10, 28-22, 21-8, 23-16 and 25-17.

6) Georgia beat the SEC rushing champion in the regular season:

Thus far in 2018, Kentucky's Benny Snell, Jr. leads the SEC with 935 rushing yards, averaging more than 5-yards per carry.

Assuming Snell continues to lead the SEC in rushing (he's more than 100 yards ahead of Texas A&M's Taryveon Williams, who's in second) this would be the fourth time in five years that the Bulldogs faced the conference's top rusher.

And lately that hasn't been a good thing.

The most recent win against Rusher Numero Uno was in 2014, when Georgia bottled up Auburn's Cameron Artis-Payne in a 34-7 thumping in Athens.

Since then, the other two times Rusher Numbero Uno faced the Dawgs in the regular season saw Derrick Henry lead Alabama to a 38-10 win in Athens in 2015 and Kerryon Johnson lead the Tigers to a 40-17 win on The Plains in 2017.

(NOTE: 2016's leading rusher was Derrius Guice of LSU, who did not play against Georgia, and the Dawgs did beat Johnson later in 2017, but not in the regular season.)

7) Kentucky played a game as a Top 10 team:

The Wildcats checked in at No. 9 in the inaugural College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday, setting up yet another Top 10 showdown for Georgia.

And while this might be familiar territory for the folks in Athens, it isn't necessarily the beaten path for Kentucky.

In fact, here are a few things that have happened more recently than the Wildcats taking the field as a Top 10 team:

  • The iPhone 2 was released.
  • Barack Obama served the entirety of his two terms in office.
  • Four Star Wars movies were released.
  • Circuit City died.
  • The Chicago Cubs filed for bankruptcy.
  • The Chiacgo Cubs won the World Series.
  • Nick Saban lost to UL Monroe.

On Oct. 4, 2007 the 5-0 Wildcats, ranked No. 8 inthe country, took the field in Columbia, South Carolina.

And promptly lost, 38-23.

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

Kentucky would bounce back, stunning No. 1 LSU the very next week in triple-overtime, again ascending to No. 8 in the country because...well kids, 2007 was the whackiest year ever in college football. Kansas almost won the national championship. (Yes, really.)

But back to the United Kingdom.

The Wildcats lost to Florida 45-37 the very next week, Oct. 20, 2007, and have never been in the Top 10 since.

BONUS: Kentucky WON a game as a Top 10 team:

The Wildcats actually broke a fairly long streak when they reached No. 8 back in '07. That was the first time they were in the AP Top 10 since 1977.

That team would finish 10-1, including nine straight wins to close the season, the final five of which came with a No. 7 ranking.

8) Georgia won a game scoring less than 20 points:

With Kentucky fielding a nasty defense, and the Wildcats, likewise, not fielding the most potent offense, it wouldn't be surprising if this game turned out to be low-scoring.

And while Kentucky is riding two straight games that fit this category, 14-7 over Vandy and 15-14 over Missouri, it's not a familiar spot for the Dawgs.

It's been nearly two years, in fact, since Georgia has been in such a spot.

In 2016, Kirby Smart got his first signature win by knocking off No. 8 Auburn in Athens, 13-7, without scoring an offensive touchdown. The Dawgs only points came via two Rodrigo Blankenship field goals and a Maurice Smith pick-six.

Since then, Georgia is 0-2 when scoring less than 20 points.

(Wow. Only twice being held that low in 26 games.)

9) Kentucky won 8 games:

The Wildcats are currently sitting at 7-1, so this proposition (with Tennessee, Middle Tennessee and Louisville also on the schedule) figures to be a slam-dunk, even if they come up short Saturday.

Nevertheless, a win at any point the rest of the way would give Kentucky its most tallies in the win column since, again, 2007 when it finished 8-5.

It was actually the second straight 8-win season for the Cats.

BONUS: What about 9 games?

Let's jump a little farther back.

In 1984, Kentucky finished 9-3, following up its 8-3 regular season with a 20-19 win over Wisconsin in the Hall of Fame Classic.

Since then, it's been all misery. At least in football.

10) Georgia beat an SEC East team by less than 14 points:

The last SEC East team to keep the score closer than two touchdowns against the Dawgs was ... Kentucky.

In 2016, the Wildcats were the unwitting helpers in fan-favorite Blankenship's rise to fame.

The bespectacled kicker booted a walk-off, game-winning field goal as time expired in Lexington, lifting Georgia, which trailed 21-13 in the second half, to a 27-24 victory, and leading to Blankenship's iconic helmet-still-on interview after the game that endeared him to us forever.

***

Throughout this football season, I've learned a lot about sports betting.

I don't actively participate, but seeing the way some people follow it intrigues me to the point that I do enjoy checking the Vegas lines and seeing if there's any movement.

One of the things I've learned is that Vegas often likes to sucker money onto one side. And that "one side" is the side the bookies think is going to lose.

In this case, the opening spread saw Georgia as a 12-point favorite (I saw a few 13's as well), a line I'm now fairly confident was installed to draw some money on Kentucky, since the line then dropped down to nine, meaning folks were putting their money on the Cats.

Ergo, Vegas think the Dawgs will win this game, if I've followed the logic correctly, and perhaps easily, but they wanted to sucker some money to Big Blue, because Vegas never loses.

I tend to think that's going to be right. As long as Georgia doesn't implode, it should win easily. I think it's close into the second half, at which point the Dawgs turn on the tail lights.

Georgia 31, Kentucky 14

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