After pulling away from Mississippi State, Georgia Bulldogs turn attention to Kentucky

What does clinching top-ranked Georgia’s fifth SEC East Division title in the past six years with a 45-19 win over Mississippi State on Saturday mean to head coach Kirby Smart?

“It says we are now one week away from playing Kentucky,” he said. “And humility is a week away.”

Smart has been steadfast in keeping the top-ranked Bulldogs’ focus on their next opponent, not the more marquee games that may lie ahead.

The Bulldogs are 10-0 for the second straight season for the first time in school history and 7-0 in league play.

They are among four undefeated FBS teams, along with No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 TCU, who are all 10-0.

But Georgia is looking toward playing at Kentucky (6-4, 3-4 SEC) on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in Lexington, Ky., not gazing at a future date with SEC West champion and No. 7 LSU (8-2, 7-1) in the SEC title game on Dec. 3 in Atlanta.

“Why would anybody think that we’re going to talk or even think about them (LSU),” Smart said. “We have two games to play, right? That’s the furthest thing from my thought process. All I can think about is how fast I can get on that plane to get rest so I can ready for Kentucky.”

Georgia and Kentucky meet heading in completely opposite directions.

While the Bulldogs dominated Mississippi State from the opening kickoff, Kentucky played one of its worst games of the season, squandering a four-point lead in the final five minutes of a 24-21 loss to lowly Vanderbilt (4-6, 1-5).

Stetson Bennett threw for 289 yards on 25-for-37 passing with three touchdowns and two interceptions and added a rushing touchdown.

Ladd McConkey had five catches for 71 yards and a score, as well as a 70-yard touchdown run, while Brock Bowers had five receptions for 41 yards and a touchdown. Darnell Washington had five catches for 60 yards and a score.

Will Rogers went 29-for-51 passing for 261 yards and a touchdown, while Rufus Harvey had six receptions for 64 yards and a touchdown for Mississippi State, which lost to Georgia for the 13th time in the past 14 meetings. Mississippi State rushed for 47 yards on 15 carries.

“They have all five-star players. They’re pretty good on defense and Coach Smart does a really good job,” Rogers said. “They had a really good scheme for what we were doing and it’s hard to finish drives on a good team.”

With Georgia leading 17-12 entering the second half, McConkey took a pitch and raced 70 yards for a 24-12 lead on the second play of the third quarter.

“We lost momentum in the first half at the end of it, but a tremendous job by Darnell Washington, just elite perimeter blocking on that play,” Smart said. “Ladd breaks one tackle, (Marcus) Rosemy(-Jacksaint) has blocks downfield and Ladd outran them. It was just a great play call, a great design. It was a play that we put in this week for that look and it hit.”

Bennett’s 17-yard touchdown pass to McConkey pushed the lead to 31-12 with 9:19 left in the third, before Rogers’ 6-yard scoring strike to Harvey trimmed the lead to 31-19 with 5:17 left in the period.

Bennett’s 2-yard scoring toss to Washington extended the lead to 38-19 with 14:55 left in the game, and Kendall Milton’s 34-yard touchdown run capped the scoring with 2:04 left.

“We have multiple ways to score,” Bennett said. “We have plays where we can take a shot or we can drive down the field and score. It’s about understanding what each and every play is trying to accomplish and accomplishing that.”

Meantime, Kentucky was anything but the model of efficiency in its loss to Vanderbilt. The Commodores ended a 26-game SEC losing streak when Mike Wright threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Will Sheppard with 32 seconds left for the decisive score.

Kentucky quarterback Will Levis struggled, going 11-for-23 passing for 109 yards, including 2-for-10 for 15 yards and an interception in the second half, against one of the league’s worst defenses.

Chris Rodriguez Jr. ran for 162 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries.

Vanderbilt outgained Kentucky 448-322 and forced the Wildcats to go 4 for 12 on third-down conversions.

Kentucky peaked as high as No. 7 in the AP poll — equaling its highest ranking since 1977 — in late September, but it is now unranked after its third loss in its past five games.

“There is no way to point fingers or anything like that,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoos said. “We know there are issues, things to be addressed. That will happen at the appropriate time. And then there is work. That’s it. You just got to go back and work and try to get better in every area.”