After loss to Georgia, Governor’s Cup rivalry even more important for Kentucky football
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Game day: No. 1 Georgia 16, Kentucky 6
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Kentucky football fell to 6-5 on the 2022 season with a 16-6 loss to No. 1 Georgia on Saturday. Here is a closer look at what the loss means beyond the scoreboard.
All eyes on the Governor’s Cup
Theoretically there is some value in giving Georgia a strong challenge, but the outcome was what everyone outside Kentucky’s locker expected.
With that game officially out of the way, Kentucky can turn its full attention to the annual Governor’s Cup rivalry versus Louisville. That game once looked like a sure win for the Wildcats, but now it might determine if Mark Stoops and company can salvage anything positive from what has been a disappointing season to date.
Louisville’s form has improved of late as Kentucky has struggled. UK may have won the last three meetings in the series by a combined 153-44, but those Kentucky teams were built around a physical offensive line that could impose its will paving the way for a powerful run game.
Kentucky’s offensive line has been the weak link this year. Running back Chris Rodriguez is still a dangerous weapon though, so perhaps a break from SEC play will be enough for the Wildcats to right the ship.
Beating Louisville will not completely erase the sense of a missed opportunity this season, but it would be a valuable momentum boost heading into the December recruiting period and bowl season. Losing to the Cardinals would add yet another doubt about whether Kentucky had fallen back into the pack of its annual opponents it had seemingly passed in recent years.
Georgia dominance in series continues
Kentucky has vanquished the demons of its long losing streaks to Tennessee and Florida with multiple wins in those series over the last decade, but the Georgia series is now inching its way into similar territory as those embarrassing streaks.
Georgia has now won 13 in a row against Kentucky, extending its all-time advantage in the series to 62-12-2. The Bulldogs are the only SEC East team Stoops has not beaten at Kentucky. While some of the recent games have at least been close on the scoreboard, there were still few, if any, moments in those contests where it looked like Kentucky might win.
Losing to Georgia during the Kirby Smart era is no slight against the program. The Bulldogs have passed Alabama and Clemson as the top program in college football for now. Kentucky is far from alone in struggling against Smart’s team.
But a season that began with dreams of Kentucky pushing the Bulldogs in the SEC East race has ended with a reminder of just how large the gap between the two programs is.
Another losing record in SEC play
Kentucky’s loss to Georgia gives the Wildcats a 3-5 record in SEC play for the season. Losing records in SEC play are nothing new for the program, but Kentucky had been at least .500 in league play in four of the last six seasons.
Stoops has reminded reporters and his team in recent weeks that despite Kentucky’s inability to back up its preseason hype, the Wildcats actually are in a bunch of similar teams at the middle of the league standings. Saturday’s early results reinforced that with Florida dropping a game against Vanderbilt.
It seems like a long time since Kentucky was driving to take a late fourth quarter lead at Ole Miss. Now there appears to be a large gap between the top five teams in the league (Georgia, Tennessee, LSU, Alabama and Ole Miss) and everyone else. For any team outside that top five group to win eight games in the regular season, Mississippi State would have to upset Ole Miss next week.
Sharing in other teams’ mediocrity will win Kentucky no admirers, but it could mean the Wildcats still play in a prestigious bowl game. If Kentucky beats Louisville and Mississippi State loses to Ole Miss, Kentucky likely has preference for the SEC spot in the ReliaQuest Bowl (formerly known as the Outback Bowl) thanks to its head-to-head win over Mike Leach’s team.
This story was originally published November 19, 2022 at 6:42 PM.
