Cats’ senior night marked with tough loss
University of Georgia Bulldogs running back Nick Chubb runs for a touchdown during the first half of the game against the Kentucky Wildcats at Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday, November 8, 2014 in Lexington, Ky. Georgia defeated Kentucky 63-31. Photo by Michael Reaves
November 10, 2014
By Joshua Huff
The highlights displayed on the Jumbotron in Commonwealth Stadium that showed UK defeating Georgia in past matchups contained more excitement than the present day matchup which saw the Bulldogs destroy a UK team determined to end this season on a low note.
For a team anchored by a stout defensive secondary and an offense loaded with young talent, the pounding that the Georgia offense laid upon the Cats on Senior Day was unexpected. Georgia entered the game built upon a run game that had been led by suspended tailback Todd Gurley, but his replacement, Nick Chubb, more than took up the slack. He dominated UK’s terrible run defense, scorching the Cats for 170 yards on just 13 carries.
“They played much better than us,” UK head coach Mark Stoops said. “They coached much better than us. They beat us in every area.”
However, it was afterthought Hutson Mason who stood out on Saturday. His 13-for-16 for 174 passing yards and four touchdowns blew open a game that until the second half was a toss-up as both teams traded touchdowns.
Throughout the game, Mason and receiver Chris Conley played catch against the UK secondary, scoring two touchdowns. But Mason wasn’t content with focusing on one receiver. Of his 13 catches, six were to different receivers.
“We didn’t play very good,” Stoops said. “We didn’t have a very good chance to stop them for most of the day.”
Mason, seemingly at will, marched the Bulldogs down the field time and again.
The Georgia offense was helped by yet another embarrassing performance by UK’s special teams. A 90-yard kick-off return by Isaiah McKenzie to open the game was only topped by his 59-yard punt return in the second half that hammered the nail in UK’s coffin even deeper.
“The kick return, the punt return and then the interception to start the second half made it 21 points right there against an offense that’s hard to stop,” Stoops said. “They’re averaging 40 a game, I said that all week, that they are going to be tough to stop.”
For UK, no positives can be taken out of this game. As Stoops so eloquently said “I may have to throw this one out.”
“This is a difficult matchup,” Stoops added. “These guys are as talented as anybody in our league. I have some friends that were opponents that they played this year and I talked to them and they said, ‘You’re not going to want to hear this but they’re a darn good football team.’”
