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LEXINGTON, Ky. — Branson Robinson scored the go-ahead touchdown from three yards out early in the fourth quarter, and top-ranked Georgia overcame a sluggish performance to rally and beat Kentucky 13-12 on Saturday night.
The Bulldogs (3-0, 1-0 in the Southeastern Conference) struggled to find continuity on both sides of the ball and trailed 9-3 early in the third quarter against a Wildcats team intent on recovering from a steady effort in a 31-6 home loss to conference rival South Carolina. Peyton Woodring’s 30-yard field goal late in the third quarter put Georgia ahead by three before the Dawgs followed with their longest scoring drive of the night at just the right time.
Trevor Etienne had a 12-yard run, an 11-yard reception and an 8-yard rush to drive the Bulldogs to Kentucky’s 29-yard line. Florida’s wide receiver then broke right for a 17-yard run to the 11-yard line, where he came off the field, carefully walking down the sideline trying to reach the end zone. Robinson took the ball from there three more plays later to give Georgia a 13-9 lead for the first time.
The Wildcats didn’t let up, answering with a 51-yard field goal from Alex Raynor that cut the deficit to one. His 55-yard kick, a school record, gave them the lead early on, and he added two more kicks from 32 and 40 yards to lead for more than three-quarters of the game — though not enough to seal the game for Georgia. Kentucky (1-2, 0-2) got the ball one last time at its own 20-yard line with nine seconds left, but could gain just 17 yards on two plays before time ran out.
“I’m so proud of the resilience our kids showed,” said Georgia coach Kirby Smart, whose team beat Kentucky for the 15th straight time. “They never backed down. We thought this was going to be a close game. We talked all week about hitting in a row, and we hit more than them. We said the first hit doesn’t cut down the tree. Sometimes it takes 272 axe swings, and it took every swing tonight to get the job done.”
Etienne rushed 19 times for 79 yards, while Robinson, a sophomore who missed last season with a torn ACL, scored five yards on two carries. Quarterback Carson Beck completed 15 of 24 passes for 160 yards, including his longest pass of 33 yards to Dominic Lovett with 2:45 left. That put the Bulldogs in the middle of the field and gave them some breathing room in a game where nothing was easy.
Kentucky quarterback Brock Vandagriff, who transferred from Georgia after backing up Beck last season and Stetson Bennett during their two national title-winning runs, completed 14 of 27 passes for 114 yards but was stopped three times. Back-to-back touchdowns came in the second quarter, the second a fumble by Raylen Wilson on Kentucky’s 23-yard line, setting up Woodring’s 34-yard touchdown run.
Kentucky was the offensive team for more than 30 minutes, taking a 6-3 lead into the half after Raynor’s first two touchdowns. The Wildcats outgained the Bulldogs 130-63 by halftime, which wasn’t great, but it was a big improvement over last week’s lackluster 183-yard game. The Wildcats outgained the Bulldogs 199-124 after halftime.
“I give them credit,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said. “They made more plays than us. We played hard and thought we had chances to win the game.”
Next up, Georgia visits fourth-ranked Alabama on Sept. 28 in a rematch of last season’s SEC Championship game, which the Crimson Tide won 27-24.
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