Georgia wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie, right, returns a kickoff for a touchdown during his game against Kentucky at Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington, Ky., on Nov. 8, 2014.LEXINGTON, Ky. - Talk about setting a tone.
Georgia freshman Isaiah McKenzie helped the Bulldogs move past last week's disappointing loss to Florida with a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to open Saturday's 63-31 shellacking of Kentucky at Commonwealth Stadium. The 5-foot-8, 164-pounder from Miami didn't stop there, returning a punt 59 yards for a score in the third quarter to put the Bulldogs up 49-24.
"It was very exciting," McKenzie said, "and I knew after the Florida game that I had to come out here and do what I do best."
McKenzie is believed to be the first Georgia player in the modern era to return a kickoff and a punt for touchdowns in the same game. The last Southeastern Conference player to turn the trick was Missouri's Marcus Murphy, who just last month had a 96-yard kickoff return and an 82-yard punt return in a 42-13 win at Florida.
The last time Georgia returned a kickoff and a punt for touchdowns in the same game was in the 2006 loss to Tennessee, when Thomas Brown had a 99-yard kickoff return and Mikey Henderson had an 86-yard punt return.
Kentucky kicker Austin MacGinnis had short kickoffs throughout Saturday's game, with one of them resulting in a Georgia fumble. His first kick of the day, however, resulted in disaster.
"He was kicking with the wind, and when he kicked it short, I was kind of surprised," McKenzie said. "When I caught the ball, I just hit the hole."
First career scores
A nice year for Georgia freshman tight end Jeb Blazevich became even better Saturday when the 6-5, 232-pound freshman from Charlotte collected his first two collegiate scores.
Blazevich broke through with a 10-yard touchdown reception from Hutson Mason early in the third quarter to give the Bulldogs a 42-24 lead. Yet the bigger highlight was an 8-yard touchdown from backup Brice Ramsey in the fourth quarter that was touched by two Wildcats defenders.
"God is good, because I don't think it was anything I did," a smiling Blazevich said. "They made a good play on the ball, but I just happened to be where it was. This felt great today.
"We always had the potential to do this, and we finally put it together."
Not very amused
Kentucky second-year coach Mark Stoops was overheard screaming at his team after a 20-10 loss at Missouri on Nov. 1. Stoops decided last week to keep what he said to his players "in house," and he obviously wasn't amused by what transpired against the Bulldogs.
"That was a very embarrassing effort by our team and our coaching staff, starting with myself, and it is not acceptable," Stoops said. "I'm just very disappointed in the way we played and with the way we're playing. We're a .500 football team, and we've got our two biggest rivals left, so we'll see if we can regroup."
The Wildcats are 5-5 after a 5-1 start. They will travel to Tennessee this week and then have an open date before their regular-season finale at Louisville.
Odds and ends
Bulldogs freshman outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter got his first career start and capitalized with nine tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. Senior inside linebacker Ramik Wilson led the Bulldogs with 12 tackles. ... Junior fullback Quayvon Hicks had a tough afternoon, fumbling a short kickoff and getting called for holding. ... Georgia now holds a 54-12-2 series lead over Kentucky, which includes eight straight wins. .. Senior center David Andrews started his team-high 36th consecutive game.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.