Nine takeaways from the No. 6 Florida Gators 24-17 loss to the No. 8 Georgia Bulldogs
3rd down defense / 3rd down offense
This is certainly the most glaring stat after the game and probably, if not absolutely, the one that determined the game.
Georgia converted on 12-of-18 (67%) of their third-down opportunities. Jake Fromm was 10-13 for 119 yards and a touchdown on third down. It was an absolutely miserable and forgettable performance for the Gators’ defense on third downs Saturday in Jacksonville. There was no answer for Georgia. The inability to get off the field led to Georgia running 36 plays in the first half to Florida’s 18. That’s not totally on the defense, though. The Gators were terrible on third down as an offense. Florida didn’t convert its first third down until late in the game and was 0-4 in the first half.
Florida only ran 26 plays through the first 42 minutes of the game because of these two things. They’re not going to win many football games with a stat like that and they’re certainly not going to win the game in Jacksonville doing that.
What did you do during the bye week?
The Gators burned two timeouts on the first drive of the game. Even more detrimentally they burned a timeout later in the fourth quarter when the wrong play was signaled in on third down and the offense wasn’t on the same page.
There were 13 full days between Florida’s win over South Carolina and the game against Georgia. What in the world were they doing during those days? You script the first drive of the game. How is it that you have to call two timeouts on that drive?
“The first two drives there were two different things,” Dan Mullen explained. “One, we had the wrong personnel on the field for the play call. Had 10 men on the field. And then we didn’t get lined up right. One I got in late and the other one. Then the one in the fourth quarter was just, I think they signaled the wrong formation and the receiver wasn’t lined up, and at that point, it was too big a point in the game to not use the timeout and make sure we get the first one.”
He took ownership of it when asked again.
“That’s us. We’ve got to coach better, right? We’ve got to make sure…that’s teaching,” he said. “That’s on coaching, making sure everybody is in position. We’re coaching and teaching it the right way.”
Trey Dean
The coaching staff continues to say, rightly so, that they need to put players in the right positions to be successful. They’re not doing that with Trey Dean.
Dean is a good football player. He showed that his freshman year. He hasn’t forgotten how to play. He doesn’t suck. He’s out of position. He played well as a freshman on the outside and maybe his future is at safety? He’s not playing well at Star, the position Chauncey Gardner-Johnson excelled at in 2018 and he continues to be thrown out there. Florida went to a package with Marco Wilson at Star and Kaiir Elam outside. They need to find a way to put Dean into a more advantageous position. They’re missing out on his potential productivity and replacing it with poor performances by playing him out of position.
Worst execution of the season
Blame can and should be placed on the coaching staff but the team was flat and didn’t execute either. It was surprising to see Florida come out and play this way, to be perfectly honest. The Gators sounded confident all week. They knew what was at stake and they came out flat. They were outplayed and outcoached.
First down Freddie
At least one positive note has to come out of this game and this list. Freddie Swain was tremendous when Florida needed him down the stretch. The senior hauled in eight receptions, six of them went for a first down, one for a touchdown and another drew a penalty that resulted in a first down.
Great individual game for your last one in Jacksonville.
Where did Kyle Pitts go?
Kyle Pitts caught four passes for 78 yards — three of those in the first quarter alone. He was clearly a mismatch that Georgia didn’t have an answer for. The only answer to how to stop Kyle Pitts was Florida itself.
After the first quarter, Pitts was targeted just three times. One reception for 29 yards. Two passes that went his way in the second half were behind him, one should have been caught but was dropped. Still, Florida needed to use their biggest x-factor more.
Goodbye playoff
Pretty self-explanatory here.
Florida’s run game non-existent by design?
The Gators got in a hole early and Dan Mullen felt they needed to throw. That makes sense. Georgia also came into the game with the SEC’s best rushing defense but Florida completely abandoned the running game. Florida ran 52 plays and only 10 of them were carries by running backs.
“I don’t think we tried to call many run-game plays,” Mullen said. “And when we ran the ball, Perine had 7 carries, 31 yards, right. Pierce, 3 for 13. 10 for 44 for the running backs. We just didn’t call many run plays.”
Sacks gone
Florida was held without a sack for the second time this season (LSU). After racking up 20 in its first four games the Gators have managed just 9 in the next five.
“They’re just a good o-line. You can’t say nothing about it. They locked us up today. We gotta be better,” Jon Greenard said after the game.