UGA football review

1. The second half of the season could get surprisingly interesting. Georgia's victory over Vanderbilt, combined with South Carolina's loss to Kentucky and Florida's loss to Mississippi State, introduced a possibility that would have seemed ridiculous two weeks ago: a run for the SEC East title by … Georgia? It's still a longshot, but at this moment Georgia is tied with Florida for second place in the wacky East, ½ game behind South Carolina.

2. The defense is improving. There are bigger tests to come -- Kentucky's offense this week, for example -- but the Georgia defense demonstrated progress in key areas in the shutout of Vanderbilt. It held the Commodores to 1-for-11 on third down, forced eight punts and avoided the type of out-of-position breakdowns that often resulted in explosive plays during the losing streak.

3. Washaun Ealey can still be a force. He ran for more than 100 yards (123 on 17 carries). He produced Georgia's longest rushing play of the season (58 yards). And most importantly, he didn't fumble. With Caleb King suspended, Georgia needed Ealey – benched two weeks earlier because of fumbles – to return to the lineup and to his form of late last season. For at least one game, he did, albeit against a team that ranked next to last in the SEC in run defense.

Injury report

Cornerback/punt returner Branden Smith missed his second consecutive game and, according to coach Mark Richt, remains doubtful to play at Kentucky on Saturday. Smith has suffered two concussions this season, and Richt said the staff is "not going to be in a mad rush" to get him back in action.

Sound bite

"I think he's the most underrated receiver in the SEC."

-- A.J. Green on teammate Kris Durham, who caught four passes for 112 yards Saturday, including a 55-yarder on Georgia's first offensive play and a 22-yarder in triple coverage

The numbers game

122-14

Margin by which Georgia has beaten its past three opponents from the state of Tennessee (38-0 over Tennessee Tech late last season; 41-14 over Tennessee and 43-0 over Vanderbilt the past two weeks)

Loose ends

Former Georgia player Thomas Davis spoke to the team before Saturday's game.  "He let them understand that it's hard to build a certain tradition of how we want to play defense or how we want to play football," Richt said. "I think some of the old guys were thinking we were letting that slip away a little bit." A week earlier, former Bulldog Boss Bailey spoke to the players and, in Richt's words, "pretty much called them out." . . . Josh Murray, a walk-on who is the older brother of quarterback Aaron Murray, played in his first game for UGA. He saw action on the punt-return team in the fourth quarter. . . . Why did Georgia burn three timeouts in the first 5:16 of the game? Richt said the first was called because the defense didn't have enough players on the field, the second because the offense called a play with the wrong personnel in the game and the third because he changed his mind about going for a field goal on fourth-and-short.

What's next

Georgia (3-4, 2-3 SEC) plays at Kentucky (4-3, 1-3) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday on CSS. Kentucky is coming off a 31-28  victory over South Carolina, which a week earlier upset then-No. 1-ranked Alabama. Down 28-10 at halftime, Kentucky outscored South Carolina 21-0 in the second half. South Carolina's freshman-sensation running back, Marcus Lattimore, left the game early in the second half with a sprained ankle.