After Kentucky’s defense performed superbly for 57 minutes against No. 1 Georgia on Saturday night, Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops may have had too much faith in that unit to stop another goal.

With 2:58 left in the fourth quarter and the Wildcats trailing 13-12, Stoops elected to punt from the Kentucky 48-yard line to pin Georgia deep and get the ball back. Wilson Berry’s punt pushed Georgia back to the 15-yard line. But the Wildcats’ defense couldn’t get the stop it needed.

Carson Beck hit Dominic Lovett for a 33-yard gain and a first down at the Georgia 49-yard line to effectively seal a 13-12 victory in a defensive slog at Lexington’s Kroger Field. It was tough to get there, but the Bulldogs extended their regular-season win streak to 42 games and won their 28th straight SEC game.

Branson Robinson scored the game’s only touchdown on a 3-yard run early in the fourth quarter to give Georgia its first lead after trailing for the first three quarters. Up until that point, both teams had traded field goals in a major defensive tussle.

Beck finished with 160 yards passing and no touchdowns. Trevor Etienne led the Bulldogs with 79 yards rushing on 19 carries.

But as a team, Georgia ran for just 102 yards, held in check by a quick, fierce Wildcats defense that regularly met ball carriers at the line of scrimmage. Georgia especially struggled on the outside run, with Kentucky’s safeties and cornerbacks reaching the running backs before they could turn a corner or even generate yardage.

Kentucky nearly had a 10-0 lead early

As the final score indicates, Kentucky didn’t fare much better on offense, failing to score a single touchdown. Quarterback Brock Vandagriff passed for 114 yards and rushed for another 26. Demie Sumo-Karngbaye led the Wildcats with 98 yards rushing, and Kentucky managed just 170 total yards.

Kentucky had what appeared to be a defensive touchdown in the second quarter taken away on replay. Lovett appeared to deflect the ball in midair after rolling to make a catch, which was picked up by the Wildcats’ Zion Childress and run back for a score that would have given Kentucky a 10-0 lead.

However, upon review, the ball hit the ground before Lovett could make a catch and the play was ruled an incomplete pass. Georgia punted on fourth down.

Kentucky had one more chance at a game-winning field goal after forcing a Georgia punt. After a touchback, Vandagriff hit tight end Jordan Dingle for a 12-yard gain to the Kentucky 32-yard line, but could not get within field goal range before time expired.

“I’m not sure our guys listened to the message all week because (Kentucky) is a good football team,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart told ESPN’s Molly McGrath after the game. “You don’t judge SEC football teams by one week.”

Smart was referring to the fact that Kentucky lost 31-6 at home to South Carolina last week despite being an 8.5-point favorite.

As Beck noted in McGrath’s stead, Georgia (3-0) has a week off next week before traveling to No. 4 Alabama (3-0) for a prime-time SEC game on Sept. 28. Kentucky (1-2) will look to absorb the game in which it got away with a non-conference home game against Ohio (2-1).