In their farewell to Sanford Stadium, Nick Chubb and Sony Michel carried the Bulldogs one more time.
Chubb and Michel combined for 238 yards and five touchdowns on 27 rushes, leading Georgia to a 42-13 blowout win over Kentucky on Saturday night.
Despite the score and yards discrepancy, it was an eight-point game in the third quarter. Chubb and Michel made sure Kentucky couldn’t get any closer.
Michel tied his career-high with three touchdowns, a plateau he hadn’t reached since his freshman season against Troy. He averaged 7.3 yards per carry, the fourth time he’s exceeded seven yards per rushing attempt in 2017.
“It’s amazing,” Michel said. “More excitement than anything, to go out of here with a bang, to get this W, to have the crowd rocking. Just to have fun.”
Chubb finished with 15 rushes for 151 yards and a pair of touchdowns. It was the second score that sent Sanford Stadium into a frenzy.
With a 28-13 lead, Chubb closed the game with a 55-yard burst down the left sideline. The run put Chubb over 1,000 yards, giving him three such seasons, equaling Hershel Walker as the only two to do so in school history.
“It was great blocking,” Chubb said of the run. “I don’t think I got touched. I kind of hit the sideline wide open. It was great blocking up front.”
It’s been a long ride for Chubb and Michel, who enrolled at UGA when Todd Gurley was king of the rushing attack. They more than held up their end of the bargain when he passed the torch, and both will finish among the top four rushers in Bulldogs history.
Their individual performances weren’t wasted. The duo has won 38 games (and counting) in their careers. Both could’ve easily entered the NFL draft a year ago; they forfeited millions to return to Athens, a decision they feel has been validated by a 10-1 record.
“I think it definitely paid off,” Chubb said.
“They’ve got something now they never would’ve had had they left,” coach Kirby Smart said. “That taste in their mouth while they were sitting out there watching this team do this. … It’s special. Every guy I’ve been around in the NFL, they all say it’s never the same. So you better enjoy it as long as you can. When you’re playing at the next level, it’s not the same. There’s no passion, energy, love for your team like that.”
Even after the win, UGA is on the outside looking in at the College Football Playoff. It will take wins over Georgia Tech and the SEC West winner in the SEC Championship game to qualify.
But the feeling they experienced Saturday night is something they said they’d cherish the rest of their lives.
“No matter how long down the road it is, to win our last game at home, it’s something we can always remember,” Chubb said. “Came a long way, me and the rest of this class. We were talking about it earlier, how far we’ve come, all the pain, all the tension we’ve been through for this moment. We took advantage of it. It was great. We’re all happy.”
Chubb and Michel stood on the benches and celebrated with the student section as the clock hit zero. It was unusual for the two quiet, more business-like backs, but they had decided it was time to let loose, if only for a few moments.
“We decided, probably Friday, that we wanted to go celebrate with the student section today,” Michel said. “We never did it before. So we thought that it was a great idea for our last one. … That environment was going crazy. It’s what we expected.”
Chubb is the fourth-leading rusher in SEC history. Smart attests to that being an extra-impressive accomplishment considering the way the game has changed since Walker played.
“I certainly feel like he’s been underappreciated,” Smart said of Chubb. “I appreciate what he’s done in an era where rushing the ball is really hard. It’s gotten harder and harder. I have no statistics to prove it, but I would venture to say that when Hershel Walker ran for his, he did it in an era where people were rushing the ball. It’s hard in the SEC. I’m not diminishing what Hershel did, I’m just enlightening you to the fact that Nick Chubb has rushed for 3,000 yards in the SEC, which is the toughest conference in the country to run the ball. That’s pretty remarkable.”
Smart continued by acknowledging Michel.
“And (Chubb) did it alongside another back that may be just as talented as he is. So what would he have done with 30, 40 carries a game? Who knows? But I’m sure his body appreciates it.”
The home slate is complete, but the reason Chubb and Michel returned isn’t. In the next two weeks, they’ll work to ensure they leave Athens with more than just a postgame moment of jubilation.
