The Florida Gators lost their fourth game of the 2022 season to the Georgia Bulldogs, dropping to 4-4 (1-4 SEC) on the season.
Gator Country provides you with four key takeaways from Florida’s 42-20 week nine loss.
TIGHT END MISMATCH
The Gators inability to cover the tight end position was evident on Saturday night. Bulldog TE’s went for over 200 receiving yards in the contest. 73 yards came on a fluky tipped pass that Brock Bowers reeled in and took to the house. Patrick Toney made a good adjustment in the 2nd half as the Gators only allowed one catch for 29 yards to Bowers. However, the damage was already done. Struggling to cover the tight end position is nothing new for Florida’s defense in 2022; the Gators have given up 564 yards to opposing team’s tight ends through eight games this season. The Gators just don’t have the versatility in their LB unit to consistently take care of mismatches. Amari Burney was great in coverage on Saturday, allowing just one catch on four targets. The only catch he allowed was the fluke TD from Brock Bowers, which was actually a pretty good defensive play from Burney, just an unfortunate outcome. Patrick Toney and this Gators’ defense needs to find a temporary solution for the tight end unit with four games left in the regular season.
TREVOR ETIENNE
Trevor Etienne is the real deal. Playing in his brother’s NFL stadium for the first time, Etienne totaled 53 yards and a touchdown on the ground and added three receptions for 20 yards through the air. Etienne provided the 2nd half spark that the Gators needed to hang around in this one. Etienne isn’t known for his elite speed, but you saw his ability to work the sideline against Georgia, outrunning multiple edge defenders in the process. Montrell Johnson struggled mightily in this one, carrying the ball 11 times for 24 yards. Etienne was productive against one of the best defenses in the country. It’s hard not to get excited about the true freshman running back.
PERSONNEL
The Gators were simply outmatched against Georgia. Florida won the turnover battle 3-0 and still lost by 22 points. There were many plays where Florida couldn’t do much differently schematically, they were just beat by better players. One play that comes to mind is the 4th and one connection to Brock Bowers early in the 4th quarter. Good coverage by Florida, just an incredible catch from the better player. This game looked like the #1 team in the country versus a team in year one of a new program. Recruiting should be priority number one for Billy Napier and this staff. I expect this staff to hit the portal for almost every position, but there should be an emphasis on TE’s, WR’s DT’s and LB’s.
ANTHONY RICHARDSON’s ACCURARY AND DECSION MAKING
Richardson’s accuracy has been an issue for the Gators all season long; that trend continued on Saturday night. Richardson has the tendency to miss his receivers high, which happened a number of times against the Dawgs. Richardson finished the day 18/37 passing, a completion percentage of just 48%. Georgia’s defense provided pressure fairly consistently, but Richardson missed wide open receivers at times.
Richardson’s questionable decision making throughout the game caught my attention. He was seen throwing the ball away on 4th down and running out of bounds in the final few minutes of the first half, which saved Georgia a much-needed timeout. Usually, I wouldn’t be mentioning this as a takeaway, but we’ve constantly seen similar situations this season.
Richardson is just still a young quarterback. One thing a quarterback can improve on is accuracy. Richardson may never be a pinpoint passer, but he can certainly improve with repetition and game experience. I think it’s much harder to increase the awareness that’s needed to play the quarterback position.
Richardson is physically gifted and can make throws that not many college football quarterbacks can make (see 41-yard throw to Shorter). Consistency is what we all need to see from Anthony Richardson. He could use another year or two in college.
The Florida Gators will look to improve ahead of their week ten road matchup with the Aggies. Florida needs two more wins to reach a bowl game, that should be this team’s goal.