Kenny McIntosh's career night keys win over Kentucky
On a cold and windy night in Lexington, Georgia fed the elder statesman of its backfield.
The Bulldogs turned to Kenny McIntosh as they looked to complete an unblemished SEC campaign. The senior responded with the best night of his career in Georgia's 16-6 win.
"He ran like a madman like he always does," offensive lineman Warren McClendon said.
McIntosh said the offense made a concerted effort to keep the ball on the ground due to the conditions. The Bulldogs ran the ball 46 times compared to just 19 pass attempts.
Much of that burden fell on McIntosh. He answered the call with 19 carries for 143 yards, both career highs.
"I love running the ball," McIntosh said. "Every running back would love to run the ball. My O-linemen, they appreciate it too. They’re making up holes out there for me. I just give them all the credit because without them, none of that would have been possible. I thank God for that."
With Georgia facing a second-and-six at the Kentucky 18 in the second half, the Bulldogs turned to their senior back.
Gains of eight and one set Georgia up with a second down at the Wildcat 9-yard line. McIntosh then sliced into the end zone for Georgia's only touchdown of the night, putting the Bulldogs up 16-0.
"We’ve been driving the ball the whole field, but we knew we needed to score that drive," McIntosh said. "We wanted to come out strong and get the ball rolling again on the ground. They were preaching the whole halftime that we needed to start strong and be physical coming out."
Despite struggling at times in short-yardage situations, the running game had one of its best nights of the season. Georgia ran for 247 yards on those 46 attempts, an average of 5.4 yards per carry.
Much of that success can be attributed to McIntosh. In what could be his final regular season SEC game, he provided the best performance of his career.
"Kenny ran the ball really well tonight, physical," Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said. "He tucked the ball up. I thought the offensive line was really physical, did a really good job in the run game to be able to get the ball out of there a couple of times. For him to hit 140 (yards), what'd he hit? 143? Awesome. Probably could have had more but he shared the load with some other guys."