Well, well, well… Where was this Kentucky team last week?

At half time against the number one of the rankings, Georgia, the Wildcats lead — yes, pipe — the Bulldogs by a low score of 6-3 at Kroger Field in Lexington. After being embarrassed by South Carolina last week, Mark Stoops‘ the team received an energy boost and as a result they can compete strongly with the Bulldogs, who have not lost a regular season game since 2020.

As the score indicates, the first two quarters were a defensive slugfest. Georgia and Kentucky combined to punt 12 times. The Bulldogs managed just 65 total yards of offense (fewest first-half yards by the Bulldogs since 2009) compared to 130 for the Wildcats. UK had 12 first downs to Georgia’s three, but the ‘Cats just couldn’t find the end zone.

Quarterback Brock Vandagriffwho did give up a fumble before halftime, looked a lot better than last week, throwing for 59 yards on 9 of 14 passes, but the offense as a whole struggled to consistently move the chains against Georgia’s strong defense. Demie Sumo-Karngbaye ran for 56 yards on 13 attempts to keep the Georgia defense in check.

Georgia running back Trevor Etienne, who suffered a shoulder injury in the first half, was ruled “out for the time being” by head coach Kirby Smart as his team entered the locker room for halftime.

Kentucky kicker Alex Raynor is the only one with points on the board for the ‘Cats. The senior drilled a 55-yarder late in the first quarter, the longest made field goal in program history, before knocking in a 32-yard kick with seconds left in the half. Georgia kicker Peyton Woodring put the Bulldogs on the board with a 34-yarder in the second quarter.

To say this score was unexpected is an understatement. Kentucky was a three-touchdown underdog before kickoff. Now let’s see if UK can repeat that for another 30 minutes.