ATLANTA — Half orange and blue, half red and black, Mercedes-Benz Stadium was divided by the two sides of one of college football’s fiercest rivalries Saturday afternoon. No. 17 Florida and No. 3 Georgia brought their annual showdown here, where the Gators were rattled in a 27-8 loss.
It’s the sixth consecutive win in the series for the Bulldogs, who took advantage of three Gator turnovers to score 17 points en route to a 24-0 lead at intermission. Florida committed 60 yards of penalties in the first half.
After winning the coin toss and deferring, kicker Patrick Durkin sent the ball flying for 65 yards. Georgia’s offense struggled to reach beyond the UF 43-yard line and opted for a field goal around the nine-minute mark. The kick sailed wide right and was no good.
Following inconsistency from early in this season, to a turnaround performance against Texas, the defense seemed to carry some of that momentum into the Georgia (7-1, 5-1 SEC) game early on, ending the first quarter with 20 tackles across the board.
DJ Coleman was one of the defensive stars of the game, recording eight tackles and one forced fumble. Myles Graham logged seven tackles and helped contain Georgia’s offense from making too many explosive plays.
“I feel like we’re all headed in the right direction now,” Coleman said about the defense. “Everybody’s on board with the plan and we’re seeing more results that we’ve been practicing for.”
Coach Jon Sumrall also noticed the defense’s improvement. Pointing out that while the Gators didn’t give the performance they wanted to, the defense’s efforts weren’t put to waste.
“We’re trying to build a sustainable program for the long term, and every little thing we do matters,” Sumrall said. “There was a lot of growth from a defensive standpoint.”
Penalties, however, are still an area Florida is struggling with. Florida (5-3, 3-3) finished the day with eight penalties for 78 yards, while Georgia had four penalties for 32 yards. Dallas Wilson, Bryce Lovett and Cormani McClain were among some of the players to draw costly penalties for the team.
Sumrall has emphasized the Gators needing to play cleaner football throughout the season, and Saturday was no different.
“We have a penalty report tape, we show the [penalties] that are egregious or self-inflicted, that are not football plays that I have a problem with,” Sumrall said. “We have to clean that up. We got to play better football.”
Aaron Philo was another sore spot for the Gators. After being announced as starter for the game on Friday, Philo only managed to throw for 26 yards and two interceptions, including a pick that led to Georgia a 28-yard field goal.
Florida brought out Tramell Jones Jr. early in the second quarter, where hope was given to Florida fans after Jones was able to connect with Bailey Stockton back-to-back for a combined 13 yards.
After being listed as doubtful in the injury report earlier in the week, Stockton received for a total of 76 yards on Saturday, his second highest after the South Carolina game.
Stockton talked about the team needing to control what they can and continuing to practice the scenarios they can to avoid keeping their backs against the wall.
“We’re beating ourselves every game right now,” Stockton said. “I feel like we’re good enough to beat anybody, we’ve proven that, but we’re just beating ourselves right now.”
Jones finished the game completing 18 of 25 passes for a 72% completion rate with one interception. Regardless of his performance, Sumrall said the team will continue to evaluate both quarterbacks this week before deciding who gets the start against Oklahoma.
“I saw both of them do enough good things that I want to keep both of them alive and give them opportunities to grow,” Sumrall said. “I’m married to starting whoever gives Florida the best chance of being successful.”
Despite not being able to break through Georgia’s defense for three quarters, hope for Florida could still be felt in the stands when the Gators were able to stop a 36-yard pass from Georgia’s Gunner Stockton into the end zone. The hope died shortly after, however, when Georgia scored its second 1-yard rushing touchdown of the day to put the score at 17-0.
The offensive line proved to be a weak spot for the Gators, especially in the second quarter when Jones was sacked twice, one sack forcing a fumble that allowed Georgia a 66-yard touchdown return by Chris Cole. The offensive line failed to keep the pocket open enough for both Philo and Jones, forcing each quarterback to make panicked throws and jeopardize the ball.
Sumrall noted the lack of help for the quarterbacks, not just from the offensive line, but from the receivers, running backs and tight ends as well.
“If we don’t get better on the offensive line, tight end, running back and receiver, our quarterback has no shot,” Sumrall said.
Wilson, the sophomore wide receiver, struggled to make an impact by being limited to 14 receiving yards for the day. Before the Georgia game, Wilson had been averaging 57.6 receiving yards per game.
Jadan Baugh also struggled to bring his usual explosiveness to the field, after only rushing for 38 yards on 17 carries, his second lowest rushing total after rushing for 13 yards in Missouri. Florida was outrushed 217-48.
The only touchdown of the game from Florida came late in the fourth quarter. Jones found a gap in the Bulldogs’ defense and rushed two yards for the score. The Gators were able to secure the extra points after Baugh passed the ball off to Wilson for the two-point conversion.
Afterward, Georgia was able to end the night strong, capitalizing on a 21-yard field goal to seal its victory.
The Gators will look to take a reset before they continue SEC play against Oklahoma (4-4, 2-3) back in Gainesville next Saturday at 7:45 p.m.
“That’s going to make us better, is us pick ourselves up and go back to work,” Sumrall said. “There’s a lot of things that went wrong in the game, not a lot that went right.”
