The game was in hand.

The Bulldogs were trailing Kentucky 34-27 in the fourth quarter, but they were driving. It was third-and-goal on the 1-yard line. They would have a chance to tie.

Georgia called a toss sweep.

Freshman tailback Washaun Ealey fumbled. Kentucky recovered, and all of sudden, the game was very out of hand.

“I was just trying to get in the end zone fast,” Ealey said. “[Quarterback] Joe [Cox] didn’t know I was that close to him when he pitched.”

Ealey may have been trying to get in the end zone too fast – he was too close to Cox, and the ball bounced off his hands.

“It’s something we run all the time,” Cox said. “It’s not a hard ball to catch, but it’s just the way that he ran it that made it tough. It’s almost like he saw a hole and was trying to cut up while I was pitching the ball to him. It ended up getting on him a lot quicker than he thought. I don’t know. But it’s definitely not something that’s too tough for him to comprehend or to handle. We run that play all the time.”

The play spelled disaster for Georgia (6-5, 4-4 SEC), as they would go on to lose the game 34-27.

“It was the same thing that hurt us all season, the turnovers,” said linebacker Rennie Curran. “We talked about wanting to win the turnover ratio, and we did the opposite.”

The Bulldogs played well enough in the first half, taking a 20-6 lead into the break. They shouldn’t have even been in the position for Ealey’s fumble to matter.

But the second half started auspiciously, and proceeded to turn into disaster.

Freshman Branden Smith fumbled on the opening kickoff of the half, setting up a quick two-play, 14-yard touchdown drive for the Wildcats.

“It was one of the game changers,” Smith said. “But I can’t do anything about it, just come back on the next play and try to make something happen. It was just a mistake I made.”

After a string of 11 straight interception-free quarters, Cox threw one to Kentucky’s Shane McCord, setting up the three-play, eight-yard drive that gave the Wildcats their 34-27 lead.

Then Ealey fumbled.

Then Georgia’s defense got a three-and-out, and its offense got the ball back on their 47-yard line, with 1:52 to work with.

Cox was picked off again on the first play.

“It wasn’t an effort problem,” said head coach Mark Richt. “It was a respecting the football problem.”

Added Cox: “We had our opportunities and we blew it.”

A 109-yard receiving effort from Tavarres King is for naught.

Another strong performance penalty-wise (just five) doesn’t matter.

The defense holding Kentucky to 63 total yards in the first half? Doesn’t mean a thing.

Cox’s 240 yards and two touchdowns in the first half are all but forgotten.

Thoughts of finishing the season strong and making it to the Outback or Music City Bowl are gone, too.

Georgia’s seniors were sent away from their final game at Sanford Stadium with Kentucky’s first win in the building since 1977.

“When things change that quickly when it seems like you’ve got everything in hand,” Cox said, “it’s a tough way to finish up.”

On senior night, elder Bulldogs (Cox, the defense) and younger ones (Ealey, Smith) combined to make Georgia a five-loss team for the first time under Richt.

A date with top-10 rival Georgia Tech, and the specter of a .500 season, still loom.

“For the seniors to have a day like this, the last time between the hedges, I think we let the seniors down,” Smith said. “But we’ve got to let that go. We’ve got Georgia Tech next week, and we’ve just got to prepare for them.”