Rapid Reaction: Swift destruction. Georgia dominates Kentucky to clinch another SEC East crown
The SEC East was up for grabs Saturday. In theory, anyway.
No. 6 Georgia dominated No. 9 Kentucky from start to finish, winning 34-17 to clinch its second consecutive division title and trip to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game.
How? Call it a case of Swift destruction.
That was the primary takeaway on a day in which upstart Kentucky played its style of football yet Georgia rolled behind a career-day from D’Andre Swift, who ran for two electric touchdowns of varying styles and a career-high 156 yards.
Kentucky’s best hope was to win the first half and slug it out in the second. The Wildcats, seeking their first SEC East title, gave themselves a chance. They forced two turnovers and dominated time of possession in the opening half, yet went to the break down 14-3.
Why?
The Wildcats’ offense stalled when it needed an extra gear, and Georgia leaned on a pattern that was tried and true.
Georgia scored first — just as it did in its previous 7 victories this season. Its defense bent a little but never broke. The Dawgs got a 65-yard punt return from Mecole Hardman to set up their first touchdown. Jake Fromm wasn’t spectacular, but he was steady enough. (He connected on a 4-yard TD pass to Isaac Nauta after Hardman’s return, but missed on at least 3 passes in the end zone and lost two fumbles.) Primarily, the Dawgs pounded the rock.
Swift provided the dagger just before the half ended, twice planting his foot and cutting to elude separate defenders en route to a 20-yard touchdown run. Swift has had longer runs — including a much longer one in the third quarter — but maybe none prettier than making two defenders miss inside the tackle box.
To that point, Terry Wilson (8-for-10, 61 yards) had more completions for more yards than Fromm (7-for-10, 57 yards), but his Wildcats couldn’t find the end zone. Fromm completed a series of short passes in Georgia’s final drive of the half to pad those numbers, but his second lost fumble robbed the Bulldogs a chance of extending their 11-point cushion.
Still, with Benny Snell limping off the field and Kentucky’s offense rarely making a splash play, that margin seemed like more than enough.
Especially considering Kentucky’s five first-half drives ended like this: punt, punt, fumble, field goal, punt.
And especially considering Georgia’s propensity for putting games away in the second half. All season, the Dawgs have done most of their damage after intermission; their 91-124 first half/second half scoring split against SEC teams proved as much.
So even before Georgia received the opening kick in the third quarter, there was ample evidence to believe Kentucky played its best ball in the first half and it simply wasn’t enough.
On cue, Georgia took the opening kick and drove 78 yards for a touchdown. Worse, Kentucky lost hard-hitting safety Darius West for a targeting call in the process.
As Elijah Holyfield bullied his way in for a 4-yard TD run to make it 21-3, all of Kentucky’s anticipation for what might be quickly turned to realization of how the rest of the afternoon would unfold.
Very quickly. On Georgia’s next possession, Swift burst through the middle for an 83-yard touchdown run, making it 28-3. Georgia had matched its first-half production on its first two series in the second half.
Georgia, which ran for 381 yards against Kentucky last year, totaled a season-high 327 Saturday. It won its 13th consecutive game against an SEC East foe, a streak that started against this very same team on this very same field in 2016.
The stakes were higher this time. The letdown for Kentucky far more immense. Kentucky’s biggest goals are gone, but there still are program standards to reach. At 7-2, the Cats still could win 10 regular-season games for the first time since 1977. Accomplish that and win a bowl game, and the Cats would have their second 11-win season, and first since Bear Bryant’s squad in 1950.
That’s not what Kentucky fans want to hear. Not tonight, anyway.
But the reality Saturday was that both teams tried to play their style, and Georgia’s style proved vastly superior. Again.
Boom! Great game Dawgs!
The Kentucky defense was exposed. I wonder if SevenT is going to show up in the comments? L. O. F*c*ing L.
Everyone in the right state of mind knew there was no way Kentucky actually had the best defense in the conference. Happy to see UGA expose them today.
Great game UGA…. clearly best in east.
Kentucky doesn’t have the talent to compete with UGA right now, but they are in the midst of a great season. Honestly, rather than winning the East and getting crushed by Alabama on national television (like we might), you could finish 10-2 and make a NY6 bowl.
Totally agree. The difference between 3 stars and 5 stars on the field today was night and day. We’re still going in a good direction, a 10-win season would be fantastic. Good luck to y’all in Atlanta!
I can certainly live with not playing Alabama. I mean how is that even legal to field that team? Anyway, I just want to drive to a warm bowl for a change. Good luck, stay healthy.
Yall did your business, but to be fair to the D, UK’s offense didnt help much, thats mainly on eddie gran, he is such a horrible OC.
Kentucky had no offense because of Georgia’s d. Your qb is trash and Georgia kept Snell in check. Kentucky’s best is not on the same level as Georgia’s best.
Our QB had a 71% completion percentage. He isnt trash, if anything is trash, its our OC and his play calling.
You’re the type of fan no one likes.
Wilson played well today for his standards. He was a lot more accurate than I thought he would be. He posies no deep ball threat though.
Actually, his deep ball is pretty decent, its usually his mid range thats shaky.
I never understood why Kentucky didn’t let him loose until it was too late. Wilson could’ve really hurt us with his legs.
Like I said, its our trash ass OC. He waits till its too late.
So where are all those confident Kentucky fans? Those ‘we can score 14 and win’ or those ‘let me repeat you will not win this game’ fans?
Those fans are at Rupp Arena by now!
Dominating … kudos now go get Bama
Elijah Holyfield is a beast.
D’Andre Swift is a beast.
Get well soon Lamont Gaillard.
Get well soon Cade Mays.
Thank God we recruited heavily for the O-Line.
That PI call in the third quarter was B.S.
UK? More like YUK – Bwahahahahaha! (That’s for all those trash talkers earlier this week).
That PI call was one of the most bogus I’ve seen in a long time. Well… since the last Kentucky game.
ATTENTION! ATTENTION! Cleanup needed on aisle 9, Lexington Kroger
That is awesome – GO DAWGS!!!
Best comment so far… now whoop bama I’m rooting for you
Ha ha ha ha ha ha KY! As IF you had a chance!
Be careful or people might be posting this all over you December 2.
I don’t really wanna pile on but some of the Kentucky fans lost their minds with the trash talk leading up to the game. Kentucky is going in the right direction but there is a sizeable talent gap to overcome.
Agreed. It’s normally hard to find a reason to get too hype about beating Kentucky, and while this was a pretty good team the ego spewing forth from the fanbase was unreal. No time to stew on it too long though, we’ve got an Auburn team coming up that would love to humble us as well.
Ignore that part of the fanbase. Crazy talk. We needed to play our best game against Georgia. I hope that Georgia wins the rest of the way and wins the national championsip. Kentucky can still go 10-2, and hopefully we’ll keep building as a program.
I knew to be worried about Swift before the game, as well.
If you think Kentucky had ego, then Good Lord, the other teams…
Don’t want to pile on? You just called their QB trash. You’re one of the worst UGA trash-talkers on here. Your team won – so what. You didn’t play a single snap … don’t claim success you had nothing to do with.
Benny Snell wears D’andre swift pjs…
I’m gonna file a missing persons report for SevenT. I’m really worried about him.
where the niggha at??? lol were gonna maul lsu when they beat bama
X from the way you talk my guess is you are from Adamsville.
and from the way the game went it seems that your other playmakers didnt show up as you stated?? were they @ Nowhere City?
They were there
QB Wilson played decent
AJ Rose
Lynn Bowden
Our D got exposed, we missed a bunch of key tackles and two key players ejected
No excuses KY got caught up in all the pre game hype and blew an opportunity to win the SEC East
exactly a.k.a what you were trying to say is that “we got mauled”
The second ejection was well-deserved. Don’t use that as an excuse.
Snell Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Georgia was fortunate to get out to an early lead
I expect a dumb comment like that from you. Kentucky was punching out of their weight class and it showed.
Nope the dawgs smashed us
Kentucky was lucky we turned the ball over twice. It could’ve been much much worse. Y’all suck and smell is overrated .
You sound like you may have lost your dungeons and dragons game tonight.
Kentucky was fortunate to be gifted a couple of turnovers on some bad snap exchanges and still couldn’t do a thing with them. Kentucky was fortunate to be given a first down on a BS pass interference call and was fortunate to have the ball bounce out of a defenders hands and into theirs for a TD. We can play this game all day.
There was no luck involved. The better team dominated and won.
UK fortunate:
several of UGA’s starting and even backup o-linemen were injured (still couldn’t do anything to a banged up o-line)
an over snapped ball
a fumbled handoff
a bounced ball from a defender was caught and ran for a TD (basically same as Prayer at Jordan Hare)
an offense pass interference was called a defense pass interference.
UK isn’t 100% either, lets not act like UGA was the only one here missing players.
Rushing yards: 331 vs 84. The whole story.
Win out a represent in a bowl, Cats!
UGA running game outstanding
Although I admire you coming back on here. You were still calling people idiots over predicting a three score win. Well looky there. Who seems to be the fool now. Enjoy the liberty bowl.
liberty bowl indeed my niggha…
UK is most likely going 10-2, Liberty bowl? You aren’t for real
“mOsT LIKely” keyword…
They have MTSU, UT, and UL left. When I say most likely, I say they WILL. All three remaining teams are horrible. In fact, so horrible that the best one left is probably MTSU
9 and 3 is more likely. Mixed in with a lot more 9 and 3 SEC teams and Kentucky gets the liberty bowl. Sorry man Kentucky is just not appealing enough to make a ny6 bowl. Better luck in the next 50 years.
You’re as stupid as they come
We’ll see. That’s also what you homer Kentucky fans said when I stated Georgia would win by three scores. Look what happened.
Okay… but no one left on UK’s schedule is nowhere near as good as UGA. Like I said, you’re as stupid as they come.
UT couldnt even score on Charlotte, MTSU is a gimmie game, and UL is absolutely a dumpsterfire right now.
Great game and game plan by the Dawgs. Still got a lot of respect for KY but the Dawgs were much better on this day. Now, it’s on to Atlanta and a date with Bama or the rematch we really want with LSU! I’m a Tigers fan tonight!
Some of you Georgia fans are real Jerks…but whatever.
We tried and failed. We couldn’t stop your run game and I honestly thought we could. But you guys are absolutely on a different level….for now :)
Congrats on the win. Make it count for the East in the Championship game.
Peace.
Not jerks. Kentucky fans were acting like world beaters. You’ve literally beat Florida and that’s about it. For now? For now this is the best team you guys have had since bear bryant. If you can’t beat us now, you may never. Peace
x iLoveMyDawgs x is not a Jerk then? There are others. But alot of GA fans on the board have been cool. I did say some.
I would also say that KENTUCKY is the best team that Georgia has beaten so far this year.
Kentucky is a good football team, not a great one. They are missing someone that can take the load off Snell. They worked him too much and he ended up getting hurt and wasn’t himself today.
ilovemydawgs is a vol troll. They are not a UGA fan. Ignore it.
I agree with you LegendDD2. Everything you said is true. But Snell hasn’t been himself for the last few games IMO precisely because my Offense hasn’t had any other answers. I will say there are glimmers of hope in Lynn Bowdan. Your team is as talent rich as Alabama.
wait weren’t yall talkin’ sh*t???
@GawgInFL im not a troll -_-
Dawg*
Mother of God.
SHUT UP. SHUT UP. SHUT UP.
How in the world is your account still in existence?
That guy is an embarrassment. Don’t pay that douche any attention. Good game today.
Living in KY I can say most UK fans were hopeful for a victory, but were by no means certain that that was going go happen. Sites like this bring out a certain type of fan from all programs that say stuff that they wouldn’t say in person, and they certainly wouldn’t lay much money on their bold predictions. UGA is the much better team and no serious UK fan can say otherwise. Go CATS!!!
Please win out so our SOS can improve, because Florida decided to pull a fat one on us.
At least we ky fans have more then football to cheer for.we looking to go 10-2 in football which is great year for any school in sec. And in basketball we probly be hanging banner #9.UGA Fans only got their mediocre football team they not going win championship.BAMA got that.UGA fans act like there long of football when really they no better then UK with there one championship. Back in 80.
The overall response from UGA fans on this site are in direct response to the ridiculous trash talk coming from UK fans all week. Plenty of Kentucky fans on this site have well earned to have this loss shoved in their face.
That being said, Kentucky is a good team and still has plenty to play for. Props to Mark Stoops getting Kentucky to be such a strong team.
UGA was definitely the better team, with better play calling, I think the defense may have held UGA to a bit less, like 27 points. Eddie Gran needs to get his head out of his ass and do better.
With that said, I still love my team, they fight and can contend with anyone thats right below the first tier that is the LSU, BAMA, UGA’s of the world. We have come a long way, we will most likely see a 10-2 season and I couldnt ask for any more from Stoops. He’s an amazing coach who built this program on his back, and I feel he will hold this consistency as his and Marrows recruiting style fits it, along with their knowledge on player development. We may win the SECE one of these years, but right now, I’m looking forward to a NY6 bowl.
I’d love to see Stoops continue the upward progression of the program as it just brings more strength to the East. I definitely think he can do it and who knows, might even change the profile of the organization with more of those top tier recruits. Best of luck to you guys for the rest of the year.
Best of luck to you all and thank you, go win the SEC
I commend your classy comment, good sir.
Maybe you should practice it instead of just commending it.
Oh, look, your crib must’ve come unlocked. Back to bed, cellar-dweller.
Mizzou could finish with 8 or 9 wins. That’s a hell of a cellar dweller.
And your comment makes zero sense. Cribs don’t have locks. Do people in Georgia lock their babies in cages? No wonder you’re all mentally handicapped.
I hope Kentucky wins out, gets a good bowl game, and represents the SEC well. This season can still be very special for UK.
The 2nd fumble on the muffed handoff is Fromm’s but the first was on the backup center for the bad snap. Shouldn’t have to correct the professional sports writer on basic stuff. But Fromm hate makes writers do weird things.
How ’bout them DAWGS?!
YESSIRRRR sit df down basketball school go get ready for duke….
UGA might as well go liberty bowl as well cause when time comes play BAMA they going to expose the whole UGA team.i got one better for you I bet UK I’ still finishes season with better record then UGA cause auburn is desperate for wins and UGA always chokes
Yeah obviously your an idiot haha
I assume because of your complete inability to spell a word you never stepped foot on campus in Athens or you went to Ohio State.
I love my dawgs not you Tnaylor.
UK1970 is awfully silent here… has anyone checked in on him since the 3rd quarter?
I predicted 28-3. Kentucky fans thought there was no way they give up that many points with their defense. Looks like I was a TD short.
I didn’t see the game and I’m curious how Kentucky put up 17 on UGA? Did they a get a couple free TDs after the game ended again?
Four in a roll, Dude. What does that say about the state of your program? Wait until you beat us again before you try to talk smack, it looks bad. Go CATS!!!
Kentucky is on one hell of a streak against Mizzou and south Carolina, but if there were any justice in this universe y’all should not have beat us last week and I’m pretty sure you know it. Football is weird like that. It took you guys 30 years to beat a team we’ve beaten several times.
Enjoy the bragging rights. Looking forward to the next one.
Big talk for a cellar dweller. Gonna have to bring more than refs cheated.
Mizzou won’t beat Kentucky again in you lifetime
Ya know Georgia used to be my 2nd favorite team. I always rooted for them but never again. I figured they would beat us but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fan base as belligerent and disrespectful as Georgia’s. Congrats on your win tonight. I’ll be sure to post a comment when Alabama whip your all’s a$$ in Atlanta and Tua hangs 50 on your so called elite defense
And I’ll post when you guys are playing in the liberty bowl. Lol
Liberty bowl?
And I never had a problem with Kentucky until the nuts came out this week beating their chests like they were back to back SEC champs. You can’t expect one fanbase to listen to baseless trash talk (not even good trash talk) and not bite back a little. There were some respectful UK fans on here that argued good points about the game this week but they were being out-shouted by all the guarantees and chest beaters. If you make it to Athens for next years game I’d happily buy you a beer and we can sit and make fun of the nuts on both sides of the fence. Go Cats and Go Dawgs.
You haven’t been reading their posts since last season if you didn’t realize their arrogance until now.
Arrogance? Arrogance is thinking your program is a blue blood because you used to win decades ago, yet it’s been over a decade since you’ve won anything.
No arrogance is UGA fans like you, ugarmy, legends and your brother “love my dawgs”. You are all the very definition of arrogance. Go find all the TN posts that talk about how great we are and give me the list. It won’t take long because there aren’t any. You guys have been bragging ever since you blamed the refs for your loss last year. The thing is the more your opponents try to acknowledge how good your team is the more insults and trash you throw out. That is called arrogance. It’s to bad so many of the east fans will be rooting against UGA vs the west champ. But you reap what you sew.
stop playing with my name & Put some respckt on my name- Birdman
Fuzzy, stop. This off-season, there were countless Vols fans on this site talking trash to UGA about how many NC’s and SECC’s UT has won and other nonsense. Thumping their collective chests about their history as if that matters. I invite you to review SDS articles over the summer and read the comments. And I can’t speak for the other UGA fans, but I only talk trash in response to other fans and only when they deserve it. If I remember correctly, UGA fans were very gracious on this site after UGA beat UT, myself included.
to the victors go the spoils. not so much for Tenersee and the gaytors.
Oh please, UK fans talked all week about how UK was going to win, how great UK’s defense is, how legendary Snell is, blah blah blah. What you’re seeing from Georgia fans is a response to the surprisingly cocky UK fanbase talking trash all week.
Thank you for notifying us that there is a free spot for our “2nd favorite team” fan roster. I know that is a valuable affiliation for UK football fans, and all the more so when you return to “crossed fingers fir bowl eligibility” expectations next year
UK and Florida are pathetic. SEC East is terrible besides Georgia. This proves they are all average or below average teams. SEC West is overrated too besides Bama and LSU, I mean Miss State lost Florida, Texas AM lost to Auburn? A bunch of average teams beating average teams. Bama, LSU and Georgia is all the SEC has and they are definitely 3 of the top 5-6 teams in country, but that’s all the SEC needs.
You are foolish any of them teams beat the other on any giving night.besides BAMA Nobody beating them.ha ha I love it putting UGA in same class as BAMA and LSU.Didn’t the tigers thump yall ? Then they got thumped tonight.no disrespect but UGA no were close to BAMA .y’all have one championship way back in 80 and y’all act like y’all a powerhouse.maybe some day if saban leaves BAMA.but no time soon.
Average compared to Bama, LSU, and UGA? I will agree that those three have made the rest of the conference look average. But if you think that the ACC/B1G/Pac 12 can match up with UK, UF, A&M, Miss St with their 4th thru 7th best teams, then dream on.
Congrats, UGA fans, your team proved they are on a different level, elite level in fact. Like UK’s basketball ball team does to lesser teams, the Dogs overwhelmed us with their superior talent across the board. The CATS had to play perfect and hope UGA shot themselves to win, but neither happen. Please take out Bama as it’s not healthy for one team to own the league. I’ll take being in second place of the east, It’s much better than fighting Vandy for 6th place like we traditionally have. Go CATS!!!
Appreciate the comment, I’m pulling for the Cats the rest of the way. I’ve loved watching their season so far and this seems like the kinda momentum Stoops can build on for next year. Wilson needs some help at receiver but he seems like he can develop into a solid threat at QB. Find a good one-two punch in the run game and keep that Defense going strong and they’ll continue to remain a threat. Best of luck.
yall will destroy us in BB tho…. GG.
Kentucky has a great chance of winning out and getting a great bowl game. I’ll be cheering for UK the rest of the way.
I applaud UK for their success this year and hope you win out. I would also hope you can take advantage of some of the turmoil at Ohio St to recruit some stud players from talent rich Ohio. Good luck the rest of the way!
Kentucky plays Duke. You had your 15 minutes. Better than normal year in football. But the world is not upside down yet.
Maybe UK should wait until after they win before putting up billboards. Texas A&M showed how to beat UK. UGA just took it to a new level. 80% of UGA rushing yards came with 2 sophomores and 3 freshman on the OLine.
I thought GA fans were classy. Way they are talking on here makes me think I was wrong. Better team won but no excuse to be obnoxious