Stats Crunch: Kentucky Game

The SEC Championship game has been in existence since 1992. Georgia represented the East in five of the first 24 SEC Championship games, but since Kirby Smart took over in 2016, the Bulldogs have represented the East five of the last seven seasons. The ten total ranks third most among conference teams with Alabama (14) and Florida (13) appearing more often.

Since 2002, Georgia has represented the Eastern Division ten times, while all other divisional teams have represented the East a total of 11 appearances. Georgia will be facing LSU for the fifth time in the conference’s big game, with the Tigers winning three of the first four.

Georgia still has two more foes to face in the regular season in a quest for an undefeated season. Last week, the Bulldogs went on the road and defeated Mississippi State and improved to a perfect 10-0. That's just the fifth time the Dawgs have reached that record. The Dawgs won some form of a championship in each of the first four occasions.

This week, the Dawgs and Cats square off in Lexington. Georgia has 61 career wins against Kentucky in a series which dates back to the 1939 season. The 61 wins is the third most by Georgia against any opponent (69 vs. Georgia Tech and 63 vs. Auburn). Kentucky won the first matchup 13-6 in a game that was played in Louisville, but have only won 12 all-time. Georgia has won the last 12 meetings between the two teams. A victory on Saturday will make 13 straight, and it would be the longest streak against a SEC opponent.

Stetson Bennett has had his ups and downs passing against Kentucky. In a 2020 Halloween clash, Bennett went 9-for-13 passing for 131 yards with zero touchdowns and threw two interceptions. Last season he fared better, as he went 14-for-20 for 250 yards with three touchdowns and zero picks.

Last week against Mississippi State was also a little bit up and a little bit down. He went 25-for-37 passing for 289 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. The 25 completions gave him 514 in his career and made him the sixth Bulldog to reach 500. He also eclipsed the 7,000-career-yard passing total and is sixth on that list as well. The three touchdown passes gives him 53 on the season. He passed Matthew Stafford in that stat and now stands fifth all-time.

He is the top ten in two single-season categories as well and has a chance to move up on both.

Ladd McConkey has a team-leading 43 receptions. He needs ten more receptions to reach a tie for second place for the most receptions all-time by a Georgia sophomore (Terrence Edwards and A.J. Green have 53). Last week, he had a 70-yard touchdown run and a 17-yard touchdown reception. He has three career games with a touchdown run and a touchdown catch. Two of those have happened this season. He is one of five Bulldogs to have multiple games with a touchdown rush and a touchdown reception.

McConkey ended up with 70 rush yards and 70 receiving yards. He was the first Bulldog to have a 70/70 game since D’Andre Swift did it against Tennessee in 2019. His receiving yard total put him over 1,000 yards in his career. He now has 1,025 for the Dawgs.

Both of Georgia’s starting tight ends had touchdowns last week. Darnell Washington had his first of the season and Brock Bowers added his fourth this season (also three rushing touchdowns). He now has 17 career touchdown receptions and has played just 25 games with the Dawgs. Currently, he is tied for seventh on Georgia’s all-time list.

Washington was Georgia’s 15th different Dawg with a touchdown this season. Georgia leads all SEC teams with the most different players with a touchdown this season.

Speaking of scoring, Bennett was one of three Bulldogs who scored on the ground as well. His score was his seventh of the season, which is the most by a Georgia quarterback since Aaron Murray had seven in 2013.

Kendall Milton had his fifth TD of the season for Milton. He is the fourth different Dawg with at least five rushing scores. Georgia and Tennessee are the only two schools with four different players with five. It was also the first time Georgia accomplished this feat since 1971 and if you remember last week’s STATS CRUNCH article, you remember who those players were.

The Milton touchdown rush went for 34 yards. It was the sixth-longest rush by the Bulldogs this season. The top four were probably not the ones fans expected this season. Here is the top ten longest this season.

Georgia and Central Michigan are the only two teams this season where the top three longest rushes are not by running backs. However, two of the three for the Chippewas are done by the same person. The last team to have three different non-running backs with the three longest rushes in a season was UAB in 2018.

Georgia now has six players with 100 yards rushing this season (top four running backs plus Bennett and McConkey). The Bulldogs are tied for fourth nationally in that stat and tied for first with Alabama in the SEC as well. In terms of the top four backs, here is how they stand quarter-by-quarter this season.

One thing that Georgia has done well on the offensive side and on the defense side this season is dealing with third downs. The Bulldogs are among the FBS leaders on both sides.

Defensively, Georgia held Mississippi State to 308 yards, 100 yards less than MSU averaged entering the game. Of the two touchdowns that Mississippi State scored last week, only one was allowed by Georgia’s defense. Georgia allowed a punt return touchdown for the first time since Ace Sanders returned one for the Gamecocks in 2012. Once again, the Dawgs defense is among the nation’s best. Here is how they rank in two important categories.

Jack Podlesny added a field goal and six extra points. The nine total points gives him 101 points on the season and back-to-back 100-point seasons. Last season, he set a Georgia record with 137. Speaking of field goal kickers, the Georgia and Kentucky rivalry reminds me of two game-winning kicks in Bulldog history. The first was by Rex Robinson in 1978 and the second was by Rodrigo Blankenship in 2016.