Brad White: "As a play-caller, I couldn't get it right."

It was a night to forget for Brad White and the Kentucky defense. Taking on top-ranked Georgia in Athens, the Wildcats allowed an absurd 608 total yards, including 435 through the air and 173 on the ground. 51 points with one single punt — that coming with the Bulldogs up 44-13 with 11:20 to go in the fourth quarter.

If one side was nearly flawless, what does that mean for the other?

“There’s no way to sugarcoat it,” White said following the loss. “There’s no way to sit up here and tell you — listen, we got whipped.”

The Wildcats had minimal pushback from the opening kick, allowing a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to get the game started. Then a seven-play, 82-yard touchdown drive. And a 13-play, 95-yard touchdown drive. White blinked and his defense had allowed 21 points just minutes into the second quarter.

Georgia’s offense averaged 481.2 yards per contest — 332.6 passing and 148.6 rushing — entering the matchup. The production wasn’t a surprise considering the talent on the Bulldogs’ sideline.

“Credit to them, we knew what kind of football team they were. They’re a really good football team,” White said. “They came out with an edge, an attitude and a mentality. We knew they’d be aggressive pushing the ball down the field.”

But the Kentucky defense had already established itself as a top-25 unit in college football leading up to the trip to Athens. A fight wasn’t just the hope, it was the expectation and demand.

And then the game kicked off.

“Execution wasn’t great, but we didn’t tackle. We had been really good all year with positioning on the ball, not losing leverage, head-up and eyes-up tackling,” White added. “Credit to them. Whoever it was, whether it was (Brock) Bowers, the running backs ran hard for them. They played with an edge, they got out to a quick start. We had a chance to make a stop there, then we kill ourselves with a silly penalty. They go down and score another touchdown. All of those things.”

It wasn’t just a lack of execution on the field, either. White admits he didn’t have his best day calling in plays from the sideline, the timing off on some of his decisions. He didn’t feel he put his players in position to succeed in that environment and against that talent.

No finger-pointing necessary. Everyone played a part in the blowout loss.

“As a play-caller, I couldn’t get it right either,” he said. “I couldn’t put the guys in position or time up the perfect pressure. I was a play early or a play late. Sometimes you have those games when you’re on, this was one of those where nothing went right.”

If there was ever a time to have short-term memory and quickly move on to next week, this is the one. It sucked and the Kentucky defense was abysmal, but White still believes in his group to not let one turn into two.

He pledges they’ll be ready to go against the Missouri Tigers.

“I’ll say this: There is no defense I’d rather coach than this group of guys,” White said. “They competed until the end. We’ll go back and figure out our issues, be ready for next week.”