‘I think it’s a 50-50 game.’ The last UK quarterback to beat Georgia likes the Cats.
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Preview: No. 11 Kentucky at No. 1 Georgia
Click below to read more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s preview coverage ahead of Saturday’s Kentucky-Georgia football game at 3:30 p.m. in Athens, Ga.
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Twelve different players have started at quarterback for Kentucky since the last time the Wildcats defeated Georgia, in 2009. Coincidentally, that was almost 12 years ago.
Morgan Newton, a true freshman, threw three of his six touchdown passes in his debut season against the Bulldogs in a 34-27 come-from-behind victory in Athens, Ga. It was Kentucky’s second victory over the Bulldogs in four seasons, and its first on the road since 1977.
Newton, now a quarterbacks coach at Lexington Christian Academy, hopes he’s no longer the answer to a trivia question by the time Saturday evening rolls around.
“As much as I love talking to my favorite media people every week this year, I don’t want to be like Bill Ransdell and I’ve got grandkids talking about ‘when’s the last time Kentucky beat whatever team?’” Newton said in a phone interview with the Herald-Leader. “I don’t want this streak to go on any longer than it has to.”
Ransdell was long associated with many embarrassing streaks involving the Kentucky football team, but was finally absolved of the final one — “the last Kentucky quarterback to beat Florida at home” — when UK upset the Gators, 20-13, about three weeks ago. Newton has a few to his credit — “last Kentucky quarterback to beat Auburn” and “last Kentucky quarterback to win more than two road games in a season in the Southeastern Conference” — but it’s the Georgia association that now sticks out most clearly.
Kentucky is 0-8 against the Bulldogs in Mark Stoops’ tenure, and has lost those games by an average score of 35.8 to 13.5. It’s debatable whether Kentucky has closed the gap in recent years; it’s allowed 12 fewer points compared to that overall average in the last three games, but it’s also averaged about seven fewer points, too. Still, its most recent defensive efforts against the Bulldogs (21-0 in 2019 and 14-3 in 2020) offer room for optimism to roam as long as the offense can offer any assistance.
Statistically, the team that Newton and Co. thwarted was not a defensive juggernaut like the one fielded by Georgia this season. It finished the 2009 season ranked 63rd in the country in points allowed (20 spots behind Kentucky) and 38th in total defense (UK was 53rd). That Georgia team was formidable against the run — 36th overall after allowing 126.2 yards per game by year’s end — but this one is stingy as it gets; its 66.5 yards allowed per game on the ground ranks fourth overall in the nation and second among Power Five schools (Wisconsin, which gives up 41.4 yards per game, is No. 1 overall).
Still, the 2009 Bulldogs looked on their way to a rout of the Wildcats at halftime. They scored 20 unanswered going into the break after Newton hit Derrick Locke for a 20-yard touchdown pass early in the first quarter. After Randall Cobb scored a touchdown in the first minute of the third quarter (set up via a Georgia fumble on the opening kickoff), the Bulldogs quickly answered to go back up 27-13. That was, it turns out, the final time Georgia would score; it turned the ball over three more times after the fumbled kickoff, the first setting up the Wildcats’ go-ahead score — a wildcat rush by Randall Cobb — with 9:55 to play. A fumble at the 2-yard line and an interception, both occurring inside the final three minutes, sealed the Bulldogs’ fate that season.
“The turnovers did us in, without question,” then-Georgia Coach Mark Richt said after that game. “Kentucky’s a fine football team, but we helped them and we didn’t help ourselves with the turnovers in the second half.”
Newton anticipates Kirby Smart might be singing a similar tune if his Wildcats walk away from Athens as winners on Saturday.
“It’s probably gonna be a game that’s won in the teens or the 20s because the teams are gonna play really good defense, control the ball and try not to have turnovers,” Newton said. “Turnovers in a game like this, that could end up being a possession game, are just crucial.”
2021 game
Will Levis is the 12th player to start a game at quarterback for Kentucky since Newton.
If one assumes Kentucky’s defense shows up again in Athens — the Wildcats’ unit is ranked 20th, nationally, in points allowed and in the upper third in most statistics among SEC squads — then the Wildcats ought to have a shot at making Georgia’s stay at the No. 1 spot short if it can take care of the ball and get a quality game from Levis. He doesn’t need to be otherworldly; he and the rest of the offense just don’t need to take Kentucky out of it.
“They cause so much havoc on third downs,” offensive coordinator Liam Coen said of Georgia, which leads the league in sacks (22) and is second in interceptions (nine). “That’s where you’ve seen a lot of games over the last few years get out of hand, is third-and-6, third-and-7, third-and-8, and they’re teeing off on you. Strip sack, fumble, game’s changed. Ball security’s at a premium this week.”
Newton was 9-for-17 for 137 yards and three TD passes in the 2009 victory. Cobb, who lined up in the wildcat formation a few times that game, rushed for two scores and 40 yards on nine carries. If Levis were to have a stat line like that by himself in Athens, Kentucky probably comes home happy. Half that might suffice within what will be the most fraught environment the Cats have played this season.
“Georgia at that particular time had pros on both sides of the ball, like they do now,” Newton said. “It wasn’t going to be a scenario where you were going to run over ‘em or out-athlete them. That just doesn’t happen when you play Georgia teams. You just had to be confident in the game plan and see the game plan through. That’s so crucial in a game like that, because there’s gonna be three-and-outs, and there’s gonna be times where you’re playing field position. I doubt that Kentucky’s going into the game thinking they’re going to win it in the 50s. That’s just not the type of game it’s probably gonna be.”
For what it’s worth, the last quarterback to put a leash on the Bulldogs is high on the Wildcats’ chances this weekend. He thinks the 24-point spread in favor of Georgia is laughable, and that Kentucky has demonstrated that it can go toe-to-toe with any team in the country.
“I think it’s a 50-50 game,” Newton said.
The 2018 showdown with Georgia had an SEC Championship Game berth on the line; if UK were to win Saturday, it would still need to beat Tennessee three weeks from now to lock in its first appearance. The Cats’ 2007 game against Florida, a 45-37 loss, is the only other game in recent memory that Newton says comes close to that one or this week’s in terms of hype. He attended that game as a recruit.
As for this week’s contest ...
“In Kentucky history, that I’m aware of, it’s the biggest game that we’ve ever had,” Newton said. “And I don’t think it’s even close.”
Saturday
No. 11 Kentucky at No. 1 Georgia
When: 3:30 p.m.
TV: CBS-27
Records: Kentucky 6-0 (4-0 SEC), Georgia 6-0 (4-0)
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Series: Georgia leads 60-12-2
Last meeting: Georgia won 14-3 on Oct. 31, 2020, in Lexington.
This story was originally published October 13, 2021 at 7:59 AM.
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