ATHENS, Ga. - The Georgia Bulldogs took an expected dip in several national offensive categories after Saturday night's 21-0 victory over Kentucky at a drenched Sanford Stadium.
Georgia and Kentucky played a scoreless first half in the steady rain that accompanied temperatures in the low 50s. A shanked punt by Kentucky's Max Duffy and a fumble by Wildcats quarterback Lynn Bowden enabled the Bulldogs to shake loose for a 14-0 lead at the end of three quarters, which factored into Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm needing to attempt just one second-half pass.
Fromm was not having any "What's wrong with the offense?" questions after the game, with the 21-0 triumph following a 20-17 upset loss to South Carolina in double overtime in which the Bulldogs committed four turnovers.
"I'm not worried about that," Fromm said. "Tonight, we came out and played physical football. We knew that's what it was going to be. It wasn't going to be a beauty contest. It was going to be ground-and-pound just because of the way the conditions were.
"Our guys did a good job of responding to that."
The Bulldogs (6-1, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) entered their second open date of the season averaging a very respectable 471.3 total yards, 236.9 rushing yards, 234.4 passing yards and 36.0 points per game. They rank 14th nationally in rushing offense, 20th in total offense and 24th in scoring.
Georgia is very close to its offensive numbers from last year, when it averaged 464.9 yards and 37.9 points a contest.
This season's Bulldogs were able to build a chunk of their totals at the expense of Murray State and Arkansas State, with November showcasing four conference foes - Florida, Missouri, Auburn and Texas A&M - that have been ranked at some point. Georgia is in its first year under offensive coordinator James Coley, with predecessor Jim Chaney having left in January for the same role at Tennessee, and coach Kirby Smart was asked to assess Coley after Saturday's game.
"I'm very pleased," Smart said. "I thought we were extremely patient on offense in tough conditions. We've got more explosive plays than we had this time last year, when we had three wide receivers who are now in the NFL. That's taking today out of it, because I don't know how many explosive plays we had, but coming into this game, we had more explosives than we had last year.
"The concerns coming into this week were whether we could get some separation and create some space and get healthy and run the ball explosively, but these conditions were completely different."
Georgia's next game is all but assured of being a top-10 showdown, with the Bulldogs remaining No. 10 in Sunday's latest Associated Press poll and Florida moving up two spots to No. 7. The Gators (7-1, 4-1) also are off this week and have the same extra time to prepare for the Nov. 2 showdown in Jacksonville that will be televised by CBS at 3:30 p.m.
The Bulldogs were No. 3 when they defeated No. 7 Notre Dame 23-17 on Sept. 21, with that triumph followed by their first open date. The three games between the breaks were the 43-14 win at Tennessee, the loss to South Carolina and Saturday night's quagmire.
Smart was asked Saturday night where his team stands compared to the first open date.
"I just love the fact that they compete," he replied. "They block the outside noise. They go work really hard. We've had some good, physical practices. There was no way to simulate what we were going to play in tonight, but our guys embraced the challenge.
"They have not shied away from any work we've given them. Where we are right now is not where we need to be. We've got to get better, and that's what we're going to do this week."
Smart said the Bulldogs would have a walkthrough today, focus on some remaining opponents Tuesday, then start locking in on Florida both Wednesday and Thursday.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.