Not much can be said about Florida’s execution in Saturday’s 36-17 loss to Georgia, but for six plays in the third quarter, the Gators were nothing shy of perfect.
After Feleipe Franks fumbled on Florida’s 1-yard line, it felt like it would be a cake walk for Elijah Holyfield or D’Andre Swift to carry it in the end zone and put the Bulldogs up by two touchdowns. It was anything but.
Before Georgia could even put it in the hands of either of its star running backs, defensive end Jabari Zuniga gave them a head start with an offside penalty. He came back to make the tackle on Holyfield the next play.
Then, Luke Ancrum and Vosean Joseph met Swift in the backfield for a 1-yard loss on second down.
Officials called C.J. McWilliams for pass interference the next play, and Dan Mullen nearly had an aneurysm fighting the call before Nick Savage pushed him back to the sideline.
No big deal. Move the ball up a yard and do it all again.
Jake Fromm tried to sneak it in twice in a row. No, sir.
Zuniga and Joseph combined on the final tackle of Holyfield for no gain to make it fourth down and somehow come out of it only giving up three points.
In 3:58, Georgia did not gain a single yard.
With more than 30 years of coaching under his belt, defensive coordinator Todd Grantham couldn’t remember ever getting that many stops on the goal line in an entire game, much less in a single possession.
“That’s probably the greatest goal line stand I’ve ever been a part of,” he said. “I was really proud of it, and I think it really says a lot about the attitude of our players. I think it talks about their belief in what we’re doing, their belief in each other … When you face a talented team like that, you gotta be exact in your fundamentals and what you’re doing. And you know, we’ll learn from those things, but the biggest thing is, you gotta give that kind of effort. Anytime you have a blade of grass to defend, you’ve always gotta continue to defend that.”
To be able to execute a stop like that, all 11 bodies on the field have to do their jobs correctly. One mistake, and either one of those backs gets just enough of a push to get it in.
“I think it shows the belief in us and in themselves and in the people around them,” Grantham said. “You know, that hey, ‘I’m gonna do my job, because I know if I’m in this gap, I got somebody inside of me in their gap, somebody outside of me in their gap and we’re gonna knock this back and we’re gonna play as a team.’ The biggest thing I got from that is we played as a team. And if you do that, you’re gonna be good.”
While the Gators could never spark a comeback following the outstanding defensive effort, it still gives them some confidence moving forward. They want to learn from the mistakes, but also look back on the good that came from the game and build on it.
For those few minutes, Florida did everything right and gave a glimpse into just how far this team has come and how good it could be in the coming years.
“That seven-play drive showed what type of team we were when it came down to it,” said defensive tackle Kyree Campbell. “And I think the improvement from last year is just a big jump because I don’t know if that would happen last year.”