Kirby Smart was happy with the final 42-13 score of Saturday’s game against Kentucky.

Other than that, there was still much to be desired. Especially from the defensive perspective.

Smart has been harping about his team’s tackling – or lack thereof – all season, and the effort he saw against the Wildcats didn’t make him feel any better.

For the second straight week, the Bulldogs faced one of the premiere backs in the SEC. Although Kentucky’s Benny Snell didn’t equal the out-put last week of Auburn’s Kerryon Johnson, much of his 94 yards came on broken tackles, mistakes that had Smart seeing red.

“I’m proud of the score, I’m not proud of the tackling,” Smart said after the game. “I’ve addressed that before. We’ve got to wrap up; the guy’s a good back. He breaks tackles. But, yes, the result of the score was good, and you’ve got to play good red area defense in this league or you will give up a lot of points.”

Georgia did a better job there.

Two other times Kentucky reached the Bulldog red zone before settling for field goals of 37 and 35 yards by Austin MacGinnis.

Otherwise, there’s still a lot of improvement yet to do.

“I thought it was good later in the second half than it was early. We struggled. That opening drive of the second half they pushed us around a little bit, we missed a tackle, so we’ve got to get better up front and tackling on defense to be a really good defensive football team. I know you look at all statistics, all the numbers, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to tackle better. We’ve got to strike people and get them on the ground.”

Nizialek says he’s fine

Punter Cameron Nizialek said he’s no worse for wear after taking a shot to his knee in the third quarter of Saturday’s win, a play that resulted in a personal foul against Kentucky’s punt coverage team.

“They came off the back-left side,” Nizialek recalled. “I got it off okay, but they came in really late, right when I landed.”

Nizialek said he breathed a sigh of relief.

“I thought it could have been pretty bad when I was laying there, but thankfully it wasn’t,” he said. “It was more of a shock factor than anything.”

Quick hitters

…Saturday’s victory enabled Georgia to be the first Bulldog team to go undefeated in the SEC East since the two divisions divided in 1992.

…Georgia finished with 504 total yards.

…Javon Wims finished with a career-high six catches for 86 yards.

…Kentucky was just 3 of 12 on third down.

…Aaron Davis’ interception was his first of year. Ironically, Davis also had a pick in his first collegiate game at Sanford Stadium. Saturday, he picked one off in his final appearance.

…Roquan Smith led Georgia with nine tackles, including a sack.