Florida running back Jadan Baugh (13) slides into the end zone against Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday. (Matthew Lewis/WRUF)

Risky Call, Missed Execution Sink Gators vs. Bulldogs

Jacksonville’s EverBank Stadium served as the destination of a four-round SEC boxing match between Florida and Georgia. Both teams traded blows throughout the game, each delivering a signature shot, but neither one could find that knockout blow.

But up 20-17 with under 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the Gators were driving to potentially land the fatal blow. Nine plays into the drive, UF faced a third-and-2 at the UGA 19-yard line and went with a quarterback read-option with DJ Lagway. UGA’s Ellis Robinson IV and safety Zion Branch chased Lagway around the right side and dragged him down. Trying his best to lunge out for the first down, Lagway nearly lost the football in the process.

On fourth-and-1, Florida turned down kicking a field goal to go up by six; instead, interim coach Billy Gonzales sent his offense back on the field to convert the short-yardage play. Out of the shotgun, Lagway handed the ball off to running back Jadan Baugh, who tested his luck with a run right up the middle. Unfortunately, Georgia’s front-seven blew up the Gators’ offensive line and denied Baugh from picking up the first down.

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From that moment, the momentum swung back in the Bulldogs’ favor, who marched right down the field and finished off the drive with a 24-20 lead on a 36-year touchdown from Chauncey Bowes, a former Gators commit. Gonzales answered questions about the fourth-down play after the game and stood by his decision to roll the dice.

“No second thoughts,” Gonzales said. “We had to go for it. If you kick a field goal, you’re still down. If they go down and score, you’re still down a point. We will take a look and see where we went wrong, but no second-guessing as far as the play that was called.”

On the ensuing possession, from its own 31-yard line, Florida faced another short-yardage third down, this time a third-and-4. Rolling to his left, Lagway surveyed the field, looked up and saw a wide-open J.Michael Sturdivant standing all alone at the UGA 21-year line. Throwing off one foot, Lagway launched the ball to Sturdivant, which would have been a walk-in go-ahead touchdown if on target.

Instead, Lagway’s pass was underthrown, Sturdivant scrambled back to the ball and dove out to bring it in, but the ball appeared to hit the ground just before he got his forearms underneath it. The ruling on the field was incomplete and upon replay review, the call on the field stood as called.

“He was like the fourth progression on that. I was still going through my progression, I was out of the pocket, then right when I kind of popped up and looked up, I seen him and I was already on my left foot,” Lagway said. “I just tried to get it out to him; should have put a little more on it.”

You can argue both sides, but with no real evidence to overturn it, the officials were stuck with the original call on the field. While most of the Gators’ fanbase is irate about the call, Gonzales thinks they got the call right. When asked about it postgame, the interim coach responded with a quick “no” before saying a play like that is hard to stomach.

On the next play, Lagway had another man open but chose to throw it underneath to a covered Eugene Wilson III, which nearly resulted in a pick-six the other way, but Robinson dropped it. Nonetheless, Georgia forced the turnover on downs and milked the final three minutes of the game with a kneel-down at the UF 1-yard line.

Florida came into this game as one of the worst third-down offenses in the nation (127th in FBS), and it cost them dearly Saturday. The Gators went 2-for-11 on third down, which was surprising considering UGA ranked 93rd in third-down defense.

On the other side, the Gators’ failure to get off the field hurt them down the stretch. The Bulldogs were 7 of 15 on third down despite an average down and distance of nine yards. Georgia made a couple of big third-down conversions on the final drive, including a third-and-7 run from Bowens that picked up 14 yards. The other being a potential third-and-5 from the UF 10, but became a manageable third-and-1 after Florida jumped offsides and resulted in the game-clinching first down being picked up, securing the 24-20 win.

In the end, Georgia proved that to be the man, you have to beat the man, and Florida came close again, but moral victories do not hold up in the SEC. The Gators learned that beating the SEC’s big boys requires committing to 60 full minutes of football. With this being the fifth straight loss to the Bulldogs, nobody on Florida’s active roster will have beaten its southern rival.

“It stings, it hurts bad, it hurts bad knowing this is my last time I’ll ever get to play in this game in this stadium with my brothers,” Gators EDGE Tyreak Sapp said. “It hurts bad. it hurts a lot.”

Category: College Football, Feature Sports News, Gators Football, SEC