UGA Football: Dawg’s Defense Continues to Shine

The Georgia defense gave a bit at the end, on the last play from scrimmage inside Sanford Stadium on Saturday night. Of course, by then, with the top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs fully in command against No. 11 Kentucky, the 1-yard touchdown at the very end didn’t really matter in a 30-13 victory in a matchup of the final two unbeaten teams in the SEC.

Just don’t tell this tough, dominating and determined defense that the Wildcats’ 1-yard score with 4 seconds left didn’t matter.

“Honestly, we treat that like anything. Even if there are 4 seconds left in the fourth quarter, we still do not want anyone in our end zone. Honestly, it still hurts right now,” linebacker Adam Anderson said about 30 minutes after Kentucky’s late touchdown.

Leading 30-7 late against the Wildcats, in a battle of the final two unbeaten teams in the SEC, Georgia did all it could to keep Kentucky from getting a second score. The first-team defense was out there and battled through a marathon drive of 22 plays that lasted more than 11 minutes. Kentucky got the score, closing the final margin, but it was still another very impressive outing by this Bulldog defense.

Kentucky finished with 249 yard of offense: 198 through the air and 51 on the ground. The touchdowns Georgia allowed were the third and fourth TDs allowed by the defense this season, and two of those came late in games that the Bulldogs were winning with sizable leads.

One Kentucky player that had Georgia’s full attention was running back Christopher Rodriguez Jr., one of the nation’s top rushers, who came in averaging 128 yards per game.

“He is super physical. Dude is one of the hardest runners in our conference,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said this week. “His pad level, his strain, his drive, his power, it’s like hitting a brick, man. People bounce off of him and they have for years. I told our guys, ‘You have to get his cleats out of the ground’ because he is not stopping.”

Georgia got him on the ground and largely took him out of the game. Rodriguez had 7 yards on seven carries and as a team Kentucky ran the ball 27 times for 51 yards, averaging just  1.9 yards per attempt.

The Wildcats’ passing game was a bit more effective, at least in the short game. Kentucky quarterback Will Levis completed 32 of 42 passes, with two touchdowns, but he only threw for 198 yards.

“All credit to them, they are a great defense,” Levis said. “They are coached really, really well. Obviously, they have the players. They are long, athletic, strong, and they scheme up well. … At the end of the day, that is the No. 1 team in the nation for a reason. All credit to them for how well they played.”

Kentucky had a bit of success very early Saturday, gaining 25 yards over its first four plays on the game’s opening drive. The Wildcats’ next 12 plays, over a couple of drives, netted them just 20 yards. Georgia ended up with 8 tackles for loss, involving eight different players, and three sacks.

After Jack Podlesny field goal put Georgia 24-7 midway through the third quarter, the Bulldog defense did what it does. It applied the pressure and started to squeeze. A run went for nothing, a short pass made it third-and-4 at the Kentucky 31. And on third down, Georgia’s coverage gave Levis no targets and then the pass rush collapsed the pocket around him. Anderson and Travon Walker were credited with a shared sack but it was the epitome of a team stop that forced a punt.

Kentucky drove down to the Georgia 10 late in the third, but came away empty. The defense got a great solo stop in space from linebacker Nakobe Dean on second down and then there was pressure all around Levis on third down, leading to an incompletion. The Wildcats’ short field-goal try, on the final play of the third quarter, was then blocked by one of the big men up front, Devonte Wyatt.

Smart said Georgia always thinks it has an opportunity to block a kick “because we’ve got people that care about points.” He said the field goal block unit is just part of the team’s red-zone defense.

“There’s nothing worse or more demoralizing that to get a field goal blocked,” he said.

Georgia added another block at the end when Jalen Carter blocked the extra point attempt after Kentucky’s late field goal.

Georgia came into Saturday’s game leading the nation in total defense, allowing just 201.2 yards per game. Georgia also led the nation in yards-per-play allowed, giving up just 3.55 per snap. Only two other teams (Wisconsin, 3.90) and San Diego State (3.93) were allowing less than 4 yards a play. On Saturday, Kentucky averaged just 3.6 yards per play, while Georgia’s offense, executing well on the ground and through the air, averaged 8.9.

Linebacker Quay Walker led Georgia with 9 tackles, and four Bulldogs had 7: defensive backs Kelee Ringo, Dan Jackson and Derion Kendrick, and Dean. In all, nine players had at least 5 tackles. This was a swarming, stout defense in the opener against Clemson and it has continued to be all season long.

When the Bulldogs rose to No. 1 in the polls this week after Alabama’s loss last week, you might have wondered if that would be a distraction or would have any effect on the team at all. Clearly it didn’t, and having an unbeaten and very physical Kentucky team coming to town might have helped keep the Bulldogs focused.

“There’s just no complacency,” Dean said. “I feel like we haven’t done nothing. Nothing changes at all. We’ve got to keep on putting in work.”

The work is far from done, but it is going very well.

Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He’s also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.