ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia’s football team wasted no time showing it had moved on from a tough league loss to border rival and familiar foil Alabama.
Versatile threat Dillon Bell and quarterback Gunner Stockton each rushed for a pair of touchdowns, leading the 12th-ranked Bulldogs to a 35-14 victory over Kentucky on Saturday to get their Southeastern Conference record back above .500 in the early going.
Georgia (4-1, 2-1) finally got off to a quick start, too, capping its first two possessions of the midday matchup at Sanford Stadium with scoring runs from Stockton.
There were no signs of anyone still pouting about what happened a week earlier, when Alabama won 24-21 to snap Georgia’s 33-game streak of home victories that was the longest active run in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The Bulldogs haven’t dropped back-to-back games in the regular season since 2016, Kirby Smart’s first season as head coach at his alma mater.
“I wasn’t shocked at all by the response of the team,” said Smart, whose team is the reigning SEC champion and has made three of the past four editions of the College Football Playoff. “If we continue to get better, we’ll be where we need to be.”