ATHENS — Kentucky coach Mark Stoops was at loss for words after watching his Wildcats get waylaid between the hedges.
“It is hard to come up with an opening statement after a beatdown like that,” Stoops said, still smarting from the 51-13 loss Georgia delivered on Saturday night.
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“I will put this one on me. We weren’t prepared in any area. We didn’t play very good in any area. They beat us from the start to the finish, pretty complete game by them.”
The Bulldogs looked and applied themselves as the No. 1-ranked team in the nation in out-gaining Kentucky 608 yards to 183 yards and piling up 32 first downs to UK’s 12.
Stoops, now 0-11 against Georgia coach Kirby Smart, knew coming into the game the Wildcats would have to manage a ferocious Sanford Stadium crowd and neutralize the Bulldogs’ physical tendencies.
As Stoops said, neither thing occurred, and Kentucky could not slow Georgia down.
“We had a pretty good understanding they were going to attack us down the field,” said Stoops, who watched Georgia quarterbacks pile up 435 yards and 5 touchdowns passing.
“They are a little different at home than they are on the road.”
Indeed, of the 23-straight home games Georgia has won, the past 17 have been by double digits.
Kentucky defensive coordinator Brad White could only give credit to the Bulldogs’ players, many of whom had been maligned through five games as they had trailed in both of their previous SEC games by double digits.
“I thought whoever it was, whether it was (Brock) Bowers or the running backs, they ran hard for them,” White said. “I thought they played with an edge and they got off to a quick start.
“As a play-caller, I couldn’t get it right either. I couldn’t put the guys to time up the perfect pressure — I was either a play early, or I was a play late.”
Georgia, meanwhile, was right on time with its most complete game of the season coming against the best team it has faced.
The Bulldogs play at Vanderbilt next Saturday before a bye week leading into the annual game with Florida in Jacksonville.
