The Florida Gators football team defeated the Georgia Bulldogs 24-10 in not-so-surprising fashion on Saturday. The usual script of a Florida win played out as the defense dominated and the offense did just enough to get the job done.
With the win over Georgia and a Tennessee loss to South Carolina, the Gators have taken complete control of the SEC East. Florida is now just two SEC wins away from securing another trip to Atlanta, and that is a win in itself. With so much going right for the Gators both inside and outside of the Georgia game, it was one of the best weekends Florida football has seen in a while.
Losses
This is the first week it has been bit of a struggle to come up with ideas for the losses column. It’s easy to go back and nitpick little things throughout the game, but the Gators played a sound game the only way Florida football knows how.
LOSS #1: Lack of offensive production
The Gators are never going to have an explosive offense that dominates the game, at least not this year, and that’s okay. The defense has the ability to keep Florida in games against every opponent they could possibly face this season, but there has to come a point where the offense begins to take steps forward. Luke Del Rio found C’yontai Lewis twice on the same drive for two of the Gators’ best offensive plays of the game and hit Antonio Callaway on a 21-yard pass for Florida’s only play for more than 20 yards. The offense has not yet found the consistency to produce explosive plays throughout the games rather than just in spurts.
Del Rio is still struggling to find wide-open receivers, making poor decisions, and underthrowing passes down the field. Things that he has struggled with in almost every game, but have not been taken advantage of by opposing defenses. Del Rio must stay within the offense and take what is given to him. That is the key to success for the offense. The Gators find the most success when he simply manages the game.
LOSS #2: Antonio Callaway isn’t touching the ball nearly enough
Callaway is Florida’s biggest playmaker on offense. To prove that point even more, he became the first Gators player to score a touchdown five different ways when he recorded the first rushing touchdown of his career on Saturday. He was only targeted four times against Georgia for 42 yards. While that was the most of any Florida receiver, he should be touching the ball twice that amount.
The Gators are finding more playmakers on offense, with Tyrie Cleveland finally seeing the field more and C’yontai Lewis emerging, but Callaway is still at the top of the list. There have been several situations where Florida was in the red zone or needed a big play to happen, and Callaway wasn’t even on the field. It is a bit questionable from a coaching standpoint.
Wins
The Gators had more to put in the wins column this week. The defense looked rejuvenated coming off the bye week and finally being healthy (for the most part) after struggling with injuries for the last few weeks. The offense had its struggles, but came away with some positives as well.
WIN #1: Jarrad Davis
Did anyone really think Davis was going to miss his final Florida-Georgia game with an ankle injury? He was going to play if he had to crawl onto the field. The best part, he hadn’t missed a beat. He led the team in total tackles (7) and tackles for loss (2.5). He had one quarterback hurry to go along with Florida’s season high 16 quarterback hurries on the day. Ultimately, Davis had the huge fourth-down stop to put the game in the bag for the Gators.
Davis’ presence would have been felt whether he had a great game or not. He is a selfless leader on defense and he carries himself with a contagious intensity. It’s just fun to watch him play.
WIN #2: This defense is ridiculously good
The Gators held Georgia to just 164 yards of offense, making them one-of-three teams in the nation (others are Michigan and Alabama) to hold four teams to under 200 yards this season. The secondary had its struggles in the first half with a couple of busted coverages, but eventually came around. Duke Dawson had a great day in particular. He has been inconsistent at times this year and Georgia tried to pick on him a little bit, but he didn’t let that happen. Dawson had two tackles and two pass break ups, one of which came on a critical fourth-down play.
In an all-around great day for the defense, the most impressive was the rush defense. Just 21 of Georgia’s 164 yards came on the ground, making Nick Chubb and Sony Michel liabilities for the Bulldogs. The return of Joey Ivie, Bryan Cox Jr., and Jordan Sherit gave Florida its depth back on the defensive line and the Gators were able to completely eliminate Georgia’s game plan. Freshman quarterback Jacob Eason would have no options but to pass with the running game shut down, which is exactly what Florida wanted to happen.
Georgia’s offensive line is a hot mess, but take no credit from Florida’s defense for the day they had. The defense could have another fun game next week against Arkansas. While the Razorbacks offense is a little better than Georgia’s, they have given up 21 sacks (13th in the SEC) and 45 quarterback hurries (worst in the SEC).
WIN #3: The offensive line (slowly but surely) is getting better
Finally, after watching the offensive line get abused week after week, they are making some improvements. They have now put together two decent games in a row. It’s a start. Del Rio was sacked three times (all on blitzes), but for the most part looked like he had more time to throw. Along with giving Del Rio more time, they are finally getting some push on the line of scrimmage for the running backs.
The offensive line is beginning to find some consistency, which is what they have been missing all season. Staying consistent and not making costly mistakes is really all the Gators can ask from the offensive line this season.