If you’re a Kentucky fan, yesterday’s game probably left you with conflicting emotions and rightfully so. There was a lot of evidence that many members of the Big Blue Nation had checked out already just two weeks into the season after a disappointing performance against South Carolina.
Some even projected that we’d start to see the home crowd attendance drop with UK fans selling their tickets but once again Kentucky fans responded to the call. Yes, there were quite a few Georgia fans in attendance last night but overall UK fans showed up and showed out on their home turf.
I was in attendance last night as a fan and from the very first play it was one of the loudest environments I have ever heard at Kroger Field. From start to finish, the environment was amazing.
Many of us who engage in Kentucky sports didn’t believe our team would be in the game by halftime (myself included) but instead Kentucky was actually leading at halftime! Now, I am not one for moral victories, never have been, however, I enjoyed what I witnessed out of this team on Saturday night. They showed a lot of fight and looked much improved in every weak spot that was displayed last week. Kentucky’s defense was stellar and its offense had the ball moving quite a bit.
Despite a couple of years, Kentucky has actually played Georgia pretty close as of late. Last night’s 13 total points allowed by the Bulldogs produced this insane stat following the game.
In three of Kentucky’s last five meetings against the Bulldogs they have managed to hold them to under 20 points. No other team in the country has done that in the last five years but Kentucky — and they’ve done it three times.
Although Georgia has won all three of those matchups you still have to give Kentucky an immense amount of credit for the feat. It would be extremely easy to just see the number one team in the nation coming into town and roll over but this team did no such thing, and they almost came out victorious. Their defense year after year gives Georgia major struggles and tonight it was almost the perfect mix to complete the task of finally defeating them.
Kentucky’s defense led by defensive coordinator Brad White was some of the best I have seen in quite some time. If it weren’t for a questionable call back on an interception for Zion Childress then this could have been a totally different outcome that would’ve had Georgia stressing in the third quarter down 10-0.
There has been some talk about this performance against the Bulldogs feeling like it has saved Kentucky’s season in some way. I’m not ready to say that just yet but I am more optimistic moving forward than I was last weekend. The next two to three games will be a good indication of what this season will look like for the Wildcats after those results take place. How do you all feel about the rest of the season going forward?
Lastly, can we please talk about this light show environment in the fourth quarter? It was absolutely electric in Kroger Field and if you missed it I feel sorry for you.
As we do after every game, we spoke to the staff and the players to get their thoughts on the game after their now back-to-back losses to start the year 1-2. We spoke to Mark Stoops, Bush Hamdan, Brad White, Brock Vandagriff, Alex Raynor, Zion Childress, and Ty Bryant. The videos are now up on our YouTube channel.
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