JACKSONVILLE — The Florida-Georgia rivalry has been lopsided since 2017. When UGA head coach Kirby Smart was hired in December of 2015, the seemingly even-balanced matchup suddenly became one-sided.
The Bulldogs have defeated the Gators in five of the last six seasons. And when the two teams met Saturday, the trend continued.
The Florida Gators (5-3, 3-2 SEC) lost to the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs (8-0, 5-0 SEC) 43-20 Saturday at EverBank Stadium. Georgia’s defense earned four sacks and three turnovers against Florida’s offense, which struggled despite an optimistic first drive.
“We made too many mistakes today,” UF head coach Billy Napier said. “We knew the margin of error was gonna be small.”
Florida redshirt junior transfer quarterback Graham Mertz was dialed in with his freshman receiver Eugene Wilson III all throughout the opening drive.
The pair connected on the first play of the game for a 27-yard gain. Three plays later, Wilson helped continue Florida’s opening drive and created life on a dump-off pass and ran just past the sticks on third-and-nine.
However, the most important play of the drive occurred three plays later. Mertz eloquently timed a pass to Wilson who was running on a slant and dodged several Georgia defenders to work his way 25 yards down field and reach across the goal line for an opening drive score.
However, the Bulldogs quickly responded. Georgia quarterback Carson Beck found five different receivers on the first drive and stood five yards away from the end zone in just seven plays.
Georgia’s backup tight end Oscar Delp — who became the starter after junior tight end Brock Bowers went down with a high ankle sprain — displayed some athleticism on the way down the field. He made an impressive, one-handed grab for an 11-yard gain.
Florida’s stout red zone defense held the Bulldogs to three points. However, after coming up short offensively on its own drive, Beck and Georgia responded with a go-ahead score and connected downfield with junior receiver Ladd McConkey for a 41-yard touchdown.
The game took a turn at the end of the first quarter. The Gators seemingly gained a first down after a short reception by sophomore wide receiver Kahleil Jackson. However, officials were given time to review the play due to the break, and moved the ball a yard short of the line-to-gain.
Florida decided to look deep into its bag of tricks on fourth-and-inches. Gators center Kingsley Eguakan snapped the ball through the legs of Mertz to sophomore running back Trevor Etienne. Junior UGA linebacker Smael Mondon sniffed out the trick play and instantly wrapped up Etienne to force a turnover on downs.
Georgia began its drive 31 yards out from the end zone, and took just three plays to reach it. Bulldogs running back Daijun Edwards ran 20 yards upfield to extend UGA’s lead to 10.
The bleeding didn’t stop there, though.
The Bulldogs defense quickly forced another turnover and on a strip sack, and Edwards punched the ball into the end zone again for Georgia’s second unanswered score to improve its lead to 24-7.
After Florida ended short of the first-down marker on its next drive, Bulldogs freshman defensive back Joenel Aguero blocked the Gators’ punt, and the ball landed outside the end zone for a safety.
Both teams punted in their next three drives until Georgia added on a field goal midway through the third quarter and followed with a touchdown the next drive.
Florida finally scored again after running back Montrell Johnson Jr. broke a tackle for a 48-yard run which set up the Gators in the red zone. Johnson added another 16-yard run, and Mertz found tight end Hayden Hansen near the back of the end zone for Florida’s second touchdown.
UF trailed 36-13 after an unsuccessful 2-point conversion.
The Bulldogs responded and marched down the field and scored another touchdown to go up 43-13. Florida answered with a late consolation touchdown from Mertz.
“I think this group will respond the right way,” Napier said.
The Gators will return home for their next game and face the Arkansas Razorbacks noon Saturday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
Contact Luke Adragna at ladragna@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @lukeadrag.
Luke Adragna is a third-year journalism student and the Florida Gators football reporter at The Alligator. He is a cat ethusiast and completes the NYT Daily Mini in less than a minute each day.
