LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The problem with turning a corner in the SEC is that most of the time, there’s a semi waiting on the other side of it.
Saturday at Georgia, Kentucky played better than it did last time out. Quarterback Cutter Boley wasn’t perfect, but he was improved.
The Wildcats still lost, 35-14.
When it comes to writing game columns in this SEC season for Kentucky, there are no plot twists. Only reruns.
Georgia beat Kentucky for the 16th straight time. When does it stop feeling like a streak and start feeling like a birthright?
It was Kentucky’s eighth straight SEC loss. Somebody has left the Wildcats on loop.
Here’s all you need to know: Georgia loped its way down the field early in the fourth quarter on what seemed like an inevitable touchdown drive that would’ve made it 42-7 — only to fumble the ball away just outside the Kentucky 10-yard line.
The Wildcats, showing all the urgency of a soak in a sauna, made their way back down the field, aided by a Georgia defense that, having long since lost interest, committed several penalties to keep the UK drive alive.
The drive ended when Boley, drifting to his right as pressure closed in, flung a ball toward the sideline, presumably out of bounds. It wasn’t quite. Georgia’s Ellis Robinson stretched out his arms, planted his toes, and snagged the ball for a touchback.
Game. Set. Match. Or something.
The Wildcats couldn’t catch a break or make one. They missed a 26-yard field goal. Got no call when their punter was knocked over in the second quarter. Lost a catch to video review near the end of the first half.
Georgia gained had more yards on its first three drives than Kentucky did in its first three quarters. And don’t misunderstand this. Georgia is no juggernaut. It has young players settling into roles. It is dealing with injuries.
At the end of the first quarter, speaking with ESPN’s Katie George, Kentucky coach Mark Stoops was asked what his defense needed to do. Georgia had possessed the ball for nearly 11 ½ minutes and led 14-0.
“They’ve been keeping us very much off balance, using a lot of formations, some unbalanced,” Stoops said. “We’ve got to settle in, make clean adjustments, get on the same page. We haven’t tackled very well.”
Other than that, though, things were fine.
That about covered it. Of his offense, Stoops said, “We’ve got to be able to throw the ball a little bit. We’re running it effectively. We haven’t had very many drives because defensively we can’t get off the field.”
Kentucky was able to throw the ball. But it got so far behind, it abandoned the run. After Georgia went up 28-7 early in the second half, it was over.
In the box score, Boley completed 25 of 41 passes for 225 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. The offense moved.
It didn’t matter.
Early Saturday, Lexington media personality Alan Cutler reported that his sources told him Stoops expressed interest in talking about an exit negotiation at some point last season. I’m not sure what to tell you about that.
I can tell you those are the kinds of things you start to hear when the pilot light between coach and program starts to flicker. Suddenly, “sources” appear like mushrooms in the rain.
Because things are bad. No matter how well Kentucky plays, the outcome looks the same.
Maybe that’s the real message. The SEC doesn’t pay you to improve. It pays you to win.
Georgia ran for four touchdowns, passed for one, and spent most of the game acting like it had somewhere else to be.
The Bulldogs are trying to find themselves this season. Kentucky helped them look.
As for the Cats? They played better.
And lost big anyway.
That’s the worrisome part of things.
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