JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After trailing Florida early this past week, No. 1 Georgia turned up the heat quickly.
The Gators led 7-3 after each team’s first drive in the first quarter, but the Bulldogs responded by scoring 36 unanswered points. Georgia (8-0, 5-0 SEC) ended up defeating Florida 43-20 this past Saturday.
Bulldogs’ head coach Kirby Smart said he was proud of his team’s poise after falling behind early.
“We came in with the idea of focusing on the mindset of mission, team, me. We wanted to put the mission first, the team first, and me last,” Smart stated. “We had a lot of guys do that today. We knew if we did it together, we’d put ourselves out there, and we knew we’d play winning football.”
One of the pivotal moments that changed the momentum came on Georgia’s second drive. Bulldog quarterback Carson Beck completed a 41-yard pass to wide receiver Ladd McConkey for six.
McConkey, who hauled in a game-high and career-tying 135 yards on six receptions with a touchdown, raced toward the end zone. McConkey left several Gators in the dust as they chased him.
However, the most important moment of the contest came on the next possession as Florida faced a 4th-and-1. The Gators elected to go for it – on the first play of the second quarter – but running back Trevor Etienne was stopped short for a loss of three yards, giving the Bulldogs the ball.
Smart highlighted he predicted Florida head coach Billy Napier would take a chance and go for it.
“[I’m] not surprised they went for it at all. I had a staff meeting before the game,” Smart said. “I told them, ‘My gut intuition is this game’s going to come down to some short-yardage situations.’ I said that typically when you play Billy [Napier], he’s very aggressive in terms of analytics and believes in it, and he has a lot of fourth downs he goes for it on. We’re going to win some, we’re going to lose some. But, you know, we’re going to go defend it. We’re going to work hard on that.”
Georgia scored touchdowns on its next two possessions, with the defense giving the offense good field position.
Daijun Edwards scored on a 20-yard rush three plays after Florida went for it and failed.
On the next drive, Georgia’s Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins forced a fumble and it was recovered by Marvin Jones Jr.
The Bulldogs took over on the Florida 11-yard line, and a few plays later, Edwards punched it in for six. The junior’s second touchdown gave Georgia a 24-7 lead over the Gators.
The Bulldogs held a 26-7 advantage at the half after freshman safety Joenel Aguero blocked a punt on special teams and the ball rolled out of the end zone at the 9:26 mark of the second quarter.
Georgia’s offensive dominance continued in the second half. The Bulldogs scored 17 more points, with a 32-yard field goal from Peyton Woodring, a 17-yard touchdown pass from Beck to Dillion Bell, and a 1-yard rush by Kendall Milton. They outscored Florida 17-13 in the second half.
According to Smart, his team is hitting its strides at the right time.
“I feel this team is improving; we’re getting better but we’re still not where we need to be,” Smart said. “But I am proud of the competitors that went out and fought today for our university.
I was proud of our fans, they supported us even though we did not start the way we wanted to. But we responded and played well. We were able to control the line of scrimmage, which ultimately is the difference in this conference. If you can win the line of scrimmage, you’ve got a chance.”
Beck, a Jacksonville native, finished the game by completing 19-of-28 passes for 315 yards and two touchdowns. Edwards rushed for a team-high 95 yards on 16 carries with a trio of scores. Milton, who returned from injury on Saturday, added 55 yards with a touchdown on 13 rush attempts.
Defensively, Georgia played stout, despite its backups giving up two scores late in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs sacked Florida’s Graham Mertz four times and piled up eight tackles for loss.
Georgia has now beaten Florida three straight years and by 20-plus points each of the last three seasons.
Javon Bullard, who led the Bulldogs’ defense with seven tackles, felt about that stat after the game.
“Coach Smart just brought that up in his speech at the end [of the game]. It definitely feels good,” Bullard said.
“Anytime you can come into this place with this rivalry, it feels damn good to get a win.”
Next week, Georgia returns home to to host No. 15 Missouri (7-1, 3-1) for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff on CBS.