Top-ranked Georgia ran its school-record winning streak to 23 games Saturday night with an impressive 51-13 win over 20th ranked Kentucky on Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium in Athens.
Georgia junior quarterback Carson Beck completed his first 13 passes while throwing three first half touchdowns as the Bulldogs improved their record to 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the SEC.
Beck found Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint on a 40-yard TD pass on Georgia’s first possession to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead. Following a Kentucky punt, the Bulldogs went 86 yards as Rara Thomas made a beautiful catch for a 15-yard touchdown grab and a 14-0 advantage.
The Bulldogs then made it 21-0 with 11 minutes left in the first half as Beck hit tight end Oscar Delp on a five-yard score.
Beck finished the night completing 28 of 35 passes for a career-high 389 yards and four touchdowns. His final TD pass came with 39 seconds remaining in the third quarter as he found All-America tight end Brock Bowers on a 21-yard strike.
“I think the biggest thing for us each week is obviously to go out there and execute at the highest level, and obviously come out with a win no matter the score,” Beck said. “But tonight, it really felt like we couldn’t go wrong with any play that was called in.”
Bowers wound up with 7 catches for 132 yards. The touchdown catch was the 24th of his career as he is now alone in second place in Georgia history, six behind Terrence Edwards who set the record from 1999-2002.
The loss drops Kentucky to 5-1 this season and 2-1 in conference play. The Bulldogs have now won 14 straight against the Wildcats and lead the all-time series 63-12-2.
The first half was total domination for the Bulldogs as Georgia scored on all six of its drives and racked up close to 400 yards of offense. Freshman kicker Peyton Woodring kicked two field goals and Kendall Milton scored on a five-yard touchdown run as the Bulldogs built a 34-7 lead at intermission.
“You’re in the rhythm and you don’t realize that you score every possession,” said Georgia head coach Kirby Smart. “I knew the offense was ticking and they ate up a lot of the clock because we actually didn’t play great defensively in the first half. Great job by our offensive staff, they had a great game plan. I had challenged them because this defense has given us fits. We have really struggled with Kentucky’s defense, and they attacked them.”
The Bulldogs’ final touchdown of the night came with less than three minutes remaining as backup quarterback Brock Vandagriff found Andrew Paul on a seven-yard strike to give Georgia the 38-point final margin of victory.
“They beat us in every area,” said Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops. “It’s hard to come up with an opening statement after a beatdown like that. It has been a while. It doesn’t feel good. They beat us from the start to the finish. Pretty complete game by them. We weren’t up for the challenge. Didn’t coach very good and didn’t play very good.”
Georgia has now won a school-record 33 straight regular season games. The Bulldogs have also won 22 regular season SEC games in a row and 23 straight at home.
Georgia gets back in action next Saturday on the road against Vanderbilt. Kickoff is set for noon eastern time. The Commodores are 2-5 on the year and 0-3 in the conference after falling to Florida 38-14 earlier in the day in Gainesville.