Georgia Football: The MVP’s from the Bulldogs victory over Kentucky
Georgia Football picked up probably their biggest win of the season Saturday, 27-24 against the Kentucky Wildcats.
Related Story: Players who needed to step up against Kentucky
Georgia Football actually came in as underdogs against the Kentucky Wildcats for probably the first time since 1977. But the Bulldogs took care of business for four quarters to pull of the upset and hurt the Wildcats chances of winning the SEC East.
To achieve the upset Georgia needed big plays and bigger performances from several players and most of them did just that tonight. Here are the players who stepped up to lead Georgia to victory.
The Front Seven
The Bulldogs defense did allow 186 yards on the ground and at times was beat up by Kentucky’s running game. But for most of the night, the defense was outstanding. They forced many three-and-outs and at times they were dominant.
The Georgia defense did not play perfectly, but just like they have all year, they played well enough to put the offense in position to win.
Nick Chubb and Sony Michel
These two should be MVP’s every week, but bad offensive line performances and games like last week where they only had 14 combined carries have kept that from happening. But they were valuable tonight.
The one-two punch combined for 40 landed punches tonight for 212 yards and a touchdown. Michel led the group with 127 yards on 19 carries, headlined by his 26-yard go-ahead touchdown run. He also had 15 yards on two catches. Chubb added 85 yards on 21 carries.
Georgia’s run game ran wild on the Wildcats and made the offense look like the offense we expected to see back in August.
Jacob Eason
The true-freshman who at times shows his youth, but very often he shows an unmatched maturity for his age under center. Tonight was one of those nights. He looked composed all night.
But in the fourth quarter, in a situation when you would much rather have someone with experience over a true freshman, he looked more like the experienced passer.
He led the go-ahead drive that Michel scored on. On that drive he was 3-for-6 with 41 yards and he completed a two-point conversion pass to Isaac Nauta.
Then on the final drive to win the game, Eason went 4-for-4 with 42 yards. A true freshman went a combined 7-of-10 with 83 yards on two fourth quarter, go-ahead drives. And this is the third game where he’s led a go-ahead drive late in a ball game this season.
Bulldog Nation, he’s got at least two more years.
Javon Wims
This one makes me happy. In the article earlier today I wrote about players who needed to step up, I mentioned Wims. Well against Kentucky Wims caught five passes for 90 yards. he definitely did what I said he needed to do.
His biggest catch came in the first half when he caught a 51-yard pass with interference. The deep ball had been absent from Georgia’s offense for weeks but Wims finally got a deep catch for Georgia tonight. Wims also caught two passes on Georgia’s final two drives.
Rodrigo Blankenship
Georgia fans we have us a kicker now. Early in the season our kicking game was a mess, but as Blankenship took over the top it’s been getting better. That culminated tonight in a 4-for-4 performance with field goals of 25, 42, 49, and 25.
None of them looked bad for even a moment, even the 49-yard try looked perfect from his boot to the net. And when true-freshman Eason lead that last drive to give true-freshman Blankenship the chance to win, he came through. His kick to win once again looked perfect, from his boot to the net.