ATHENS — Ask Kirby Smart about Kentucky’s Chris Rodriguez and there’s no denying the Georgia coach’s admiration for the Wildcats’ star running back.
For a man who covets “toughness” and “physicality” above all else, Rodriguez checks all the boxes.
“His willingness and love for contact; he seeks and cherishes contact,” Smart said of Rodriguez on Monday. “One of the most physical runners I’ve seen.”
That makes Rodriguez a perfect fit for Kentucky.
You’ll have to get in line to criticize everything that has transpired for coach Mark Stoops’ team this season. Considered the top challenger to Georgia in the SEC East and ranked as high as No. 7 nationally after a 4-0 start, Kentucky fell to 6-4 (3-4 SEC) after Saturday’s 24-21 loss at home to Vanderbilt.
That’s right, Vandy.
But neither that loss nor the three others has done anything to quiet Smart when it comes to sounding the warnings about the Bulldogs’ opponent in their nationally televised SEC road finale this Saturday at Kroger Field (CBS, 3:30 p.m.). He expects the Wildcats to be just as tough and physical as they always are.
“I know we’ll get the response from them that you would expect out of a team that’s the quality of Kentucky,” Smart said. “When you ask our kids over the last two years what was the most physical game they played in, to a man, almost every one of them talks about how physical the Kentucky game was two years ago up there. And then at our place last year where they went on a 20-something play drive against our defense to end the game.”
If you’ve been keeping up, you probably know that “tough and physical” is not foreign to Smart’s Georgia teams. Those two words, combined into a single concept, is one of the four pillars – or “DNA traits” – that Smart espouses for the Bulldogs’ football program.
It’s probably no coincidence then that Georgia has won 12 in a row in the annual SEC East series against Kentucky. The last six of those were under Smart, including last year’s 30-13 win at Sanford Stadium.
The Bulldogs clung to a 14-7 lead at halftime of that game before pulling away in the second half. But what they choose to remember from that game is Kentucky’s 22-play drive that consumed more than 11 minutes of the fourth quarter and ended with a touchdown pass by Will Levis with four seconds remaining.
Georgia’s Jalen Carter blocked the ensuing point-after attempt, which let loose a wild celebration on the Bulldogs’ sideline.
“They’ll be hungry, just coming off a loss in general,” Georgia defensive end Tramel Walthour said. “In the SEC, you can lose to anybody. The whole league is tough. Every team is good.”
That goes for Kentucky, especially, Smart says. That’s both offensively and defensively.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Wildcats will be the best Georgia has faced this season. They’re third in the SEC in total defense (317 ypg) and points allowed (20) and second against the pass (182 ypg).
It’s actually that tough, physical offense that has been the most perplexing for the Wildcats this season. Led by the 5-foot-11, 224-pound Rodriguez and 6-3, 232-pound Levis, Kentucky enters Saturday’s game last in the SEC in total offense (339). Even its vaunted run game has taken some hits. The Wildcats are 13th in the league in rushing (119.6 ypg) and last in rushing TDs.
But don’t take that as an indictment of Rodriguez’s football-running abilities. First off, the 22-year-old senior missed the first four games of the season due to a suspension. He pleaded guilty to a DUI charge in June but then was alleged to have been involved in a work-hours controversy involving Kentucky players employed by UK HealthCare hospital that was investigated by the school last spring.
Once he got back on the field, though, Rodriguez has been the same hard-running, contact-seeking yard-producer he has been his entire career at Kentucky. He’s averaging 122.2 yards per game, which leads the SEC.
Last Saturday, he almost single-handedly beat Vanderbilt. He ran for 162 yards on 18 carries and scored two touchdowns. That included a 72-yarder that appeared to be the game-winner late in the game. That moved Rodriguez to No. 3 on Kentucky’s list of greatest rushers with 3,472 yards and 33 touchdowns.
Georgia kept Rodriguez bottled up in last year’s game between the hedges, ultimately sidelining him with 7 yards on seven carries. But he got loose for 108 yards on 20 attempts when the Bulldogs eked out a 14-3 victory during their last trip to Lexington in 2020.
Rodriguez remains the perfect fit for Stoops’ offense and what the Wildcats want to do. This week, that is to upset the nation’s No. 1 team and change the narrative on what has been a tremendously disappointing season.
“It just seems like Kentucky always has that guy,” Smart said. “Benny Snell was that way. It almost feeds to their personality. You watch and you’re like, ‘Well, how did he get through that tackle?’ And you don’t really know because he just keeps going when people hit him. Great challenge. Great challenge to be physical with this guy and match his love for contact.”
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