JACKSONVILLE — From the moment Kestahn Moore fumbled on Florida’s opening possession to snuff out a good looking drive that had scoring potential, this game had the feel of some of those old Florida-Georgia games from the Vince Dooley days. Somehow, you just knew that Moore’s fumble wasn’t going to be the only mistake the Gators would make. Something in the way Georgia marched down the field to convert that turnover into a touchdown told you that this might be a very long day for Florida.
Chalk this one up to a combination of Florida mistakes, bad defense and a Georgia team that milked a bell cow named Knowshon Moreno to a 42-30 Southeastern Conference win that puts the Bulldogs at least temporarily in the lead in the East Division with a 4-2 conference record. Florida dropped to 3-3 in SEC games and that means it will take a miracle for the Gators to find their way back to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game.
Name the mistake and the Gators probably made it Saturday. From physical mistakes such as fumbles, dropped passes or missed tackles to mental mistakes by the boatload, Florida played its way out of a winnable game. What makes the loss so frustrating is that for a half, the Gators weren’t the only ones shooting themselves in the foot. If this had been poker, then the first half would have been “I’ll match your mistake and raise you a couple of 15-yard penalties.”
It was like this back in the Dooley days. How many times did the Gators arrive in Jacksonville in control of their own championship destiny only to lose to Georgia in rather bizarre fashion?
And don’t think for a second that Dooley didn’t have a hand in this one.
“We owe a lot to Coach Dooley who talked to the team this week and set a tone for this game,” said Georgia coach Mark Richt, who kept alive his streak of never losing three games to the same coach. Urban Meyer was 2-0 against Richt coming into this game.
If Dooley’s talks set a tone in the locker room, Marcus Howard’s sack of Tim Tebow on the first play of the game set a tone for the game on the field. Coming into the game, Tebow had been sacked only five times in seven games. Georgia got to him six times for 40 yards in losses Saturday.
In Tebow’s defense, he was playing with a badly bruised shoulder that was hurting far worse than he led on during the week of practice prior to Saturday’s game. Entering the game, Florida’s plan was to protect Tebow by limiting the number of times he ran with the ball but in scheming the offense without the threat of the quarterback keeper — a staple in the Florida offense through seven games — it left him a sitting duck for Georgia’s pass rush.
Georgia had four first half sacks and three of them were drive-killers. Georgia got to Tebow twice on the same drive in the third quarter, again killing a drive that had some promise.
The sacks weren’t the only problems. Moore’s fumble on the first drive killed a Florida scoring opportunity and led to Georgia’s first touchdown. Another Moore miscue — allowing a direct snap to sail through his hands for an 11-yard loss — killed another scoring threat in the second quarter. There were also dropped passes by Bubba Caldwell and Cornelius Ingram and an overthrow of Ingram by Tebow in the third quarter that would have been a sure touchdown if the ball was on target.
Early in the fourth quarter and trailing, 28-24, the Gators gambled on fourth and two at the Georgia 25. Florida had run several jet sweeps in the game so Georgia was set up perfectly for a reverse.
“We called a reverse and we wanted to take a home run shot and put the ball in Harvin’s hands,” said Meyer. “They had a guy come off the edge.”
Tebow took the snap and gave an inside handoff to Caldwell coming to the left side. He was supposed to flip it back to Harvin going in the opposite direction but the play got blown up when Moore was knocked back into the play by the man he was supposed to take out. Instead of a wide open side of the field to run to, Harvin was blocked by his own man and never touched the ball. Caldwell was stopped for a three-yard loss.
It’s not like Georgia played mistake-free, however. The Bulldogs had a rash of costly first half penalties and a Matt Stafford interception that was returned 25 yards by Wondy Pierre-Louis for a touchdown. Still, every time they made a mistake, it seemed the Gators had to trump it with one or two of their own.
Moore’s first quarter fumble led to Georgia’s first touchdown of the game and a couple of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. The entire Georgia team rushed the field to celebrate when Moreno found the end zone with 6:00 left in the first quarter, the first of his three touchdowns on a day in which he carried for 188 yards, the most by any running back against the Gators in the Urban Meyer era.
“I told the team two weeks ago that I was going to create enthusiasm whether they liked it or not,” said Georgia coach Mark Richt. “I told them if they didn’t get a celebration after our first score, all of them would be doing early morning runs.”
Moreno was a constant thorn in Florida’s side. Every time Georgia needed a big play in the running game, he came through. He carried the ball 33 times and probably created at least that number of missed tackles. His workday included seven runs for at least 10 yards and two critical catches on third down.
On those occasions when the Gators bottled up Moreno to stop the running game, Stafford had all the time he needed to find open receivers. His 11 pass completions netted 217 yards and included touchdown passes of 84 yards to Mohammed Massaquoi and 53 yards to Mikey Henderson.
On the touchdown pass to Massaquoi, Florida was playing a two-deep zone. Corner Joe Haden had the short zone and when Massaquoi sprinted past him, it was Joiner’s job to cover the deep ball. Joiner reacted slowly and then took a bad angle. It was an easy Georgia score.
The touchdown pass to Henderson was the go for the throat answer after Georgia had stopped Caldwell on third down. Pierre-Louis was flagged for a personal foul on first down, so after the 15 yards was marched off, the Bulldogs went right at the sophomore corner and torched him deep. Pierre-Louis seemed in position to knock the ball down but Henderson made the catch and ran into the end zone for a touchdown and a 35-24 Georgia lead. Again, there was no help from a safety. Dorian Munroe was too late to help.
Although the Gators answered the Henderson score with a touchdown to cut the margin to 35-30, they couldn’t come up with a stop on Georgia’s next drive. It was the same-old, same-old that has been the story the last four weeks as the Gators allowed Georgia to convert 10 of 13 third downs. Whether it’s in the passing game or in the running game, the Gators aren’t getting the job done.
The Gators couldn’t stop Auburn on a fourth quarter drive and the Tigers booted a game winning field goal on the last play of the game. Against LSU, Florida couldn’t get a stop on six critical fourth down plays in the final quarter and lost by four points. Last week against Kentucky, the Gators outscored the Wildcats although Kentucky torched the Florida defense for 415 passing yards and five touchdowns.
“We’re not playing very good defense right now,” said Meyer in his post-game press conference.
Granted, the Gators are very young, especially on the defensive side of the ball but it is eight games into the season. It’s time for someone to start making plays in the secondary and it’s time for some of the young guys on the defensive line to step up and get the job done.
“Our corners have to start making plays on the ball,” said Meyer. “Our D-Linemen have to improve.”
Injuries haven’t helped. The secondary has been without Markihe Anderson at corner most of the year and they played this game without Major Wright at free safety. On the defensive line, Javier Estopinan left the game with an ACL injury and Terron Sanders apparently sprained an ankle.
But injuries alone are not the problem.
“It’s a combination of a whole bunch of things,” said Meyer. “Our defensive line is banged up and at times I don’t feel the progression has been there. Lawrence Marsh is a guy that is now starting to progress and that should have happened 11 weeks ago.”
The Gators still have four games remaining in the season and there is always that chance for a miracle in the SEC East but they can’t dwell on miracles. Right now they need to find some confidence on defense and start making plays. Until they do, the Gators are going to have to hope and pray that the offense comes to play.
“It gets to a point where you have to score, score score,” said Meyer. “The last two years we were fortunate to have a great defense and we didn’t have to score, score, score.”
There is no great defense this year and on days like Saturday, when the offense brings something other than its A-game, the potential is there for a long day filled with disappointment.
Disappointing losses are always hard to take, but especially when the loss is to a bitter rival. Florida came here in control of its own SEC destiny and with a quarterback leading the Heisman Trophy race. The Gators left Jacksonville feeling like they did so often in the 1970s and 1980s, heartbroken again and wondering what to do next.