JACKSONVILLE, FL — To know him is to hate him. Those were probably the thoughts most often uttered by Orange and Blue clad Florida fans as they departed Jacksonville Municipal Stadium. The man in the know is tailback Knowshon Moreno, who made the most of his 35 touches by amassing for 205 yards of total offense, running roughshod through the Gators defense like a former Georgia tailback did in the river city some 25 years ago.
Like Herschel Walker did so many years before him, Moreno took the football- dipped his pads, kept his legs pumping, and stretched his body forward for additional real estate. Obviously, he’s a much different runner than the 6’1, 222 pound Walker. The results though were eerily familiar as both proved superbly productive against the Gators. There is no question that Moreno is the best back to suit up in those Silver Britches since the legendary Walker.
The defending national champions get everybody’s best shot be it Troy, Ole Miss, Auburn, LSU, Kentucky. Today, it was Georgia who played the game that Florida expected to play- controlling the lines of scrimmage, sacking the quarterback, hitting numerous big plays, and converting on third down. Furthermore, the Gators couldn’t take advantage of the Bulldogs costly penalties early in the game. In fact, they counted with a few of their own. With a fired up Georgia team taking the field, from the onset Florida needed to win the mental war in this one. They didn’t.
It was Georgia who secured the advantage in each of those categories.
The Bulldogs rushed for 196 yards and allowed quarterback Matthew Stafford to be sacked only one time. Moreno had 33 carries for 188 yards far surpassing the 106 yards gained by LSU’s Jacob Hester. Moreno also scored three rushing touchdowns for yet another opponent high. The Florida defense entered the game allowing just 94.4 yards rushing per game. The 42 points allowed by the Florida defense was the most points allowed by a Gators defense in four quarters under head coach Urban Meyer.
- The Florida offensive line couldn’t seem to get control of the lone of scrimmage for more than a few plays at a time. The ‘Dawgs sacked quarterback Tim Tebow six times for 40 yards.
- Tebow’s sore shoulder limited his ability to play free. He stated in the post game interview that the Florida coaches did not want him running the football. He honored their wishes and only ran the ball once in the first half and that wasn’t until the clock read 19 seconds until the break when the sophomore ran up the middle for seven yards.
- There is no question that his unavailability changed the Gators offensive game plan tremendously. Furthermore, Kestahn Moore’s inability to hang on to the football, wrong turn on the 4th and 2 reverse, and ineffective play of the offensive line further threw a monkey wrench into Dan Mullen’s plans.
- Georgia had 11 plays go for more than ten yards in this game and several of those went for considerably more than just ten yards. Stafford passed for 217 passing yards. Three of those plays netted 163 yards and two touchdowns.
- The ‘Dawgs converted 10 of 13 (77%) third downs. Georgia picked up 49 yards rushing on third down on seven carries. Most importantly, they converted six of those. Moreno’s number was called to run or catch a pass out of the backfield on six of those third down plays. He converted every single one of them running for 32 yards on four carries and hauling in two receptions for 17 yards.
Most of the unsportsmanlike activities and personal fouls occur in the hours and minutes leading up to the kickoff. This year the Gators and Bulldogs decided to take care of matters themselves. Georgia’s entire bench stormed the field after Moreno ran the ball in from one yard out with 6:00 remaining in the first quarter. The Georgia staff coached their players to take the field after the score by waving them onto the field. There is no question that they were looking for an emotional lift. It was an emotional lift for both sidelines.
“I told the team two weeks ago that I was going to create enthusiasm whether they liked it or not,” Georgia head coach Mark Richt said. “I told them if they get a celebration penalty after our first score, all of them would be doing early-morning runs. We got a couple more celebration penalties than I thought we would, but we got all of that straightened out at halftime. I wanted to make sure we left this game with our hearts on the field.”
The problem for the Gators was that mental breakdowns cost them plenty. James Smith’s personal foul penalty sets Florida back after the Gators had excellent field position at their own 48 yard line. Bulldogs kicker Brandon Coutu had to kick off from the 8 yard line courtesy of a pair of Georgia penalties after their first score.
Linebacker AJ Jones got pressure on quarterback Matthew Stafford, who despite having his lower body wrapped up tried to get enough on the football to hit a receiver running a fly down the right side. The ball was woefully underthrown and picked off by cornerback Wondy Pierre-Louis. Pierre-Louis caught the ball and returned it for a Florida touchdown. However, he foolishly performed the dive into the endzone while nobody was around him and saddled his team with an unsportsmanlike penalty, giving the Bulldogs a solid opportunity for field position.
“I saw it in his eyes,” defensive back Thomas Flowers said of Richt. “We’ve been talking about playing with more emotion all week, and I could just see it burning in his eyes. I could see it in everybody’s eyes from the training staff to the equipment managers, you could just see they were fired up because everybody wanted to get rid of this streak of Florida winning”.
Nobody enjoys a loss, but it appears this series is taking its’ rightful seat back in the limelight. Georgia has given Florida plenty of ammunition to circle the calendars when these teams meet again. And for the next 365 days, Moreno will be the weapon that ‘Dawgs fans say the Florida defense won’t be able to stop.