Good Day, UGA: The ‘I like driving in my truck’ edition

Rodrigo Blankenship was called a "damn good field goal kicker" by Kirby Smart following Georgia's win over Kentucky.

Curtis Compton/AJC

Posted 4 years ago

Good day, UGA. Welcome to your one-stop shop for all the relevant UGA football news and takes every Monday through Friday. Today, we thank the lord that Rodrigo Blankenship is more than just a goofy-ass dude. Then we get ready to do this week the same thing we do the other 51 weeks of the year: hate Auburn.

Top Dawgs

Rodrigo Blankenship — We all had doubts about Rodrigo (aka GODrigo) when he missed his first field goal attempt of the season. But Georgia’s cult hero kickerback is perfect since that opening miscue. He went 4 for 4 against Kentucky, including the game-winning 25-yarder as time expired. Blankenship’s performance was good enough to make Kirby Smart exclaim, “We’ve got a damn good field goal kicker” after the game, with more than just a hint of relief. Plus, he wore his helmet in the postgame interview.

When the division's on the line but you know you got this. pic.twitter.com/sB9aNSoISL

— Matt Hinton (@MattRHinton) November 6, 2016

#RespectTheSpecs
Sony Michel — Michel followed up a career-worst performance against Florida by carrying the Georgia run game against Kentucky. Michel toted the rock 19 times for 127 yards and a touchdown. His 22 yards on the ground during Georgia’s final drive were key to putting Blankenship in the best position possible to hit the winner. (Nick Chubb also had a better outing than he did against Florida, running for 85 yards. However, Chubb also fumbled twice.)
Jacob Eason — It was far from Eason’s best game with a ‘G’ on his helmet. The freshmen was inaccurate all evening and consistently overthrew receivers on deep balls. But when the game was on the line, Eason did the job. He completed all four of his pass attempts on Georgia’s final drive for a total of 42 to put Georgia well into Kentucky’s half. Eason finished the game with 245 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions.
Julian Rochester — The true freshman Rochester played the best game of his short career against Kentucky, racking up a team-leading 8 tackles — 4 solo — and a sack after accumulating 7 tackles against Florida. It took Rochester most of the season to adjust to the college game, but he finally seems to have his sea legs. If he’s finally living up to the hype, Georgia’s defense just received a significant boost.
Deandre Baker — It was one of those “better lucky than good” games for Baker. He was beaten for what looked like surefire Kentucky touchdown but was in the right place to snag a circus pick and turn the ball in the other direction.

UGA CB #18 Deandre Baker @RIP_Shod23 Shows Max Concentration On The Run To Haul In The Interception Against Kentucky

Vid: @Loyal_To_The_G pic.twitter.com/bz286o0sMD

— Matthew Hall (@Loyal_To_The_G) November 6, 2016

What they said about Georgia

Georgia-Kentucky happened and finished close to the same time as Alabama-LSU, so, unsurprisingly, many folks who cover college football nationally were preoccupied with that contest. But there still were a few national voices who chimed in about Georgia toward the end of and after the win.

Spencer Hall of EDSBS commented on Georgia’s inability to stop Benny Snell Jr. when he ran out of the wildcat on Kentucky’s final possession.

Kentucky is running one high school play for an entire drive and Georgia cannot stop it.

— BUFFALO CHILL CODY (@edsbs) November 6, 2016

Ryan Nanni of SB Nation possibly jinxed the possibility of a dumb ending by asking for it to happen.

@celebrityhottub @FootballUGA @UKFootball Ryan you know one of us would have without you asking

— Amanda Mull (@amandamull) November 6, 2016

Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports was upset Georgia killed Kentucky’s shot at making the SEC Championship Game.

Georgia ruins everything.

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) November 6, 2016

Georgia is ranked ninth in ESPN’s SEC Blog’s power ranking, and Sam Khan Jr. think the Bulldogs now stand a good shot to make a bowl game. Considering all the Dawgs need now is a win against UL-Lafayette in a few weeks, I agree.

The Bulldogs ended a two-game losing streak by swiping a 27-24 win at Kentucky on the final play. It gets Georgia back over .500 ahead of its clash with rival Auburn next week, and the Bulldogs look like they’re in good shape to get to a bowl game.

ICYMI

Unlikely hero shows Dawgs fans this may not be a completely ‘lost’ season after all (Bill King, DawgNation)
In the clutch, QB Jacob Eason does it again for Georgia (Seth Emerson, DawgNation)
By the numbers: Georgia finally pads its rushing stats (Seth Emerson, DawgNation)
Report Card: A very good night indeed for Georgia (Chip Towers, DawgNation)
Good things seem to happen when Isaiah McKenzie scores (Jason Butt, Macon Telegraph)
The MVPs from the Bulldogs victory over Kentucky (Kyle Funderburk, Fansided)
Fans furious with SEC Network’s broadcast of UGA-Kentucky game (Alec McQuade, WXIA)
Will Auburn’s ground game at Georgia lean on Kerryon Johnson? (Wesley Sinor, AL.com)
At UGA, public information has gone to the Dogs (Bill Torpy, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Embrace the chaos

Hold on to your butts, folks. There’s still a chance Georgia can win part of the SEC East crown. A sixth of it to be exact.

SEC East six-way tie update: Everything that needed to happen today did. @RedditCFB pic.twitter.com/4ZoIKWHVSZ

— Jesse Strickland (@jgstrickland7) November 6, 2016

If Georgia is gonna do its part to make this pipe dream a reality, the Bulldogs will need to upset Auburn this weekend. SEC Country has a rundown of which team the SEC rules say would go to Atlanta if this crazy scenario actually played out. Keep those fingers crossed.

Hate, hate, hate, hate …

Now that Kentucky’s out of the way, it’s time for Auburn!

Yes, there will be a lot of hate this week. Let the soundtrack to all that hate be the classic “(I Like) Driving in My Truck” by Early Cuyler feat. T-Pain. Hit it!