Georgia picked up a 21-0 win over the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday night. But it was far from a ho-hum game, as the Georgia offense had plenty of people talking after the game.
And very little of it was positive. Despite playing in a constant downpour many were upset with the offensive performance that saw Georgia attempt just 12 passes. Jake Fromm statistically had his worse performance as Georgia’s quarterback, as he threw for just 35 yards and no touchdowns.
Following a game against South Carolina where Georgia turned the ball over four times, many were fed up with the offense once again. And the scorn wasn’t directed at just one entity. Playcalling, James Coley, the wide receivers and Kirby Smart all received heavy criticism for the offensive output.
In the stadium, fans booed the Georgia offense. The reaction on social media was not much different.
The lone bright spot for the offense was D’Andre Swift. He finished the game with a season-high 179 rushing yards and scored twice for the Bulldogs.
Swift is now leading the SEC in rushing, as he’s got 752 rushing yards. Among running backs with at least 100 carries, Swift ranks third nationally in yards per attempt, as Swift is averaging 6.84 yards per carry. In his last two games against Kentucky, Swift has rushed for 335 yards and four touchdowns.
“He’s a heart and soul leader. He’s inspirational,” Smart said. “The runs kind of get the fans involved. Swift gets the team involved by all the things he does and says. He cares. This team has a lot of character, a lot of grit and I love the way they play.”
Related: Kentucky coach encourages D’Andre Swift to declare early for NFL Draft
As good as Swift was, the Georgia defense also earned solid praise after shutting out the Wildcats. The Georgia defense has given up just 3 points in the second half of all four SEC games this year and has given up just a single second-half touchdown against Power Five opponents.
Kentucky did not complete a pass until there was left then five minutes to play in the game. Georgia also forced a key turnover to set-up the offense’s second scoring drive of the game.
“They’re resilient and physically tough. It was a ground-and-pound game and we knew it would be that way. Look, their offensive staff did a great job to take a kid who’s not really a quarterback and try to make him into a quarterback. At the end of the day you have to defend him differently, so it created a lot of issues for us,” Smart said. “They did a good job of managing their quarterback because it’s tough on our guys and tough on theirs. Our guys continued to rise up in the red area, which has been big.”
A number of players took to Twitter after the game and shared some of their thoughts on the game. One of the main takeaways from the offensive players was to stay, likely asking for patience after a tough performance against the Wildcats.
Georgia has the next week off, as the Bulldogs will have an extra week to prepare for the No. 7 Florida Gators.
More Georgia football stories from around DawgNation
- Opinion: Kirby Smart says he didn’t hear boos; that’s not all he’s ignored
- Georgia football moves up in Coaches Polls, stays in top 10 of AP Poll even after ugly win over Kentucky
- WATCH Georgia QB Jake Fromm: 21-0 win over Kentucky no ‘beauty contest’
- Georgia football stock report: Defense locks down Kentucky 21-0
- Georgia football game ball: D’Andre Swift carries Bulldogs to 21-0 win
- Cover 4 on Georgia football: What will this team’s record look like after 12 games?
- Georgia football report card: Bulldogs pass Kentucky wet weather test
- WATCH: Kirby Smart proud Bulldogs able to ‘chop wood’ in win over Kentucky
- Kentucky coach encourages D’Andre Swift to declare early for NFL Draft