The Georgia Bulldogs and Kentucky Wildcats didn't wait until late Saturday night or early Sunday morning to turn back the clock.
An inability for either team to consistently pass the ball Saturday afternoon provided a throwback feel to Georgia's eventual 14-3 triumph before an announced crowd of 12,000 at Kroger Field in Lexington. The victory by the Bulldogs was their 11th straight in the series, the longest stretch of ownership Georgia has possessed against the Wildcats.
It instantly became the lowest-scoring Southeastern Conference game this season by more than a touchdown.
"Every time we play them, it's a physical war," Bulldogs fifth-year coach Kirby Smart said. "It's just tough. They play really stout along the offensive and defensive lines and do a great job of limiting possessions in a game, but our kids were resilient.
"It was like playing the triple-option, where you only get a certain number of possessions. I wasn't disappointed in the effectiveness of our offense. We just didn't get many opportunities."
The game transpired in two hours and 56 minutes, which is quite rapid in today's televised world of SEC football, and Georgia made Kentucky travel long distances due to junior punter Jake Camarda. The average starting field position for the Wildcats was their own 19-yard line.
Georgia redshirt sophomore running back Zamir White had a career-best performance with 26 carries for 136 yards and a touchdown.
"We've been waiting on it, and we knew it was going to come, because he's a great back," Bulldogs redshirt junior quarterback Stetson Bennett said. "It was great to see him get what he deserves. He's such a hard worker, and he's such a good guy."
As a team, the Bulldogs rushed 43 times for 215 yards.
Chris Rodriguez Jr. led Kentucky's ground attack with 20 carries for 108 yards, but the Wildcats had just 138 rushing yards overall. Kentucky quarterback Joey Gatewood, the Auburn transfer who was making his first career start due to Terry Wilson's wrist injury, completed 15 of 25 passes but amassed just 91 yards.
Bennett completed 9 of 13 attempts for 131 yards and sustained two interceptions, which kept the Bulldogs from breaking the game open.
"We knew that Kentucky was going to play the way they did on offense and that they were going to try and take it out of our hands as much as they could, which they did," Bennett said. "In the first drive, we just started running it, and we ran it well, so we just stayed with it. I know it's easier for me to hand the ball off and watch the line block and the receivers block.
"It was working today. They couldn't really stop us."
Georgia took its first possession of the game 86 yards on 12 plays, staying on the ground the entire time. White opened with two carries that netted eight yards before James Cook had a gain of 10, and Kendall Milton got into the act once the Bulldogs crossed midfield with two rushes for 19 yards.
White returned to produce four carries for 21 yards that set up Bennett's 2-yard touchdown run that capped the five-minute, six-second march and put the Bulldogs up 7-0.
Camarda's 54-yard punt early in the second quarter pinned the Wildcats back at their 7-yard line, but Gatewood mixed the right runs and passes for a staggering 19-play, 77-yard drive that consumed 10:28 of possession time. Kentucky had to settle on a 34-yard Matt Ruffalo field goal and a 7-3 deficit, but the Wildcats stayed close by snuffing a second Georgia threat when defensive tackle Phil Hoskins batted and intercepted Bennett at Kentucky's 25-yard line.
"We kept playing on that drive and wound up holding them to three points," Bulldogs senior safety Richard LeCounte III said following his 13-tackle performance. "Nothing could have stopped us from being able to stop those guys. We were able to show our toughness at the end, and that was pretty much it."
At the start of the third quarter, the Bulldogs quickly made it a two-possession game. A 33-yard pass from Bennett to tight end Darnell Washington took Georgia to the Kentucky 31, and White broke free on fourth-and-1 for a 22-yard touchdown run for a 14-3 lead.
Touchdowns on the first possessions of each half would wind up being the only points for Georgia.
"I think Kentucky was 15th or 16th in the country in scoring defense, and a lot of that has to do with how their offense plays and drains the clock," Bennett said. "It was just a grinder of a game. We would run the ball, and they would run the ball. The clock ran fast, and we didn't get many drives."
The Wildcats took their first possession of the second half into Georgia territory, but veteran Bulldogs linebacker Monty Rice stripped the ball from Gatewood, with LeCounte recovering at Georgia's 36-yard line.
Asked whether he had just won an ugly game, Smart said, "I saw some resilient guys out there, and that's pretty to me."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.