Jake Fromm and the Georgia Bulldogs silence critics

Jake Fromm led Georgia into Jacksonville to silence the critics and move the Bulldogs one step closer to their third consecutive SEC championship game.

Just a few days ago, Georgia fans were wringing their hands, looking for answers on message boards, and trying to fend off constant attacks on Jake Fromm and the Bulldogs from UGA’s biggest rival.

I know this because I was one of those fans. I watched every Kirby Smart press conference last week. I refreshed the 247Sports Junkyard Forum at least once an hour. And I listened intently to every DawgNation podcast that was released.

I was looking for something to believe in headed into Jacksonville. I knew the Bulldogs were better than the performance against South Carolina and Kentucky, but I was still trying to find some validation in places it was never going to be.

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The media didn’t give Georgia much of a chance against the Gators, the fans from the Swamp were convinced that the gap had disappeared, and the Twitter pundits were doing what they do best – mocking and trolling.

Jake Fromm was taking heat from all corners of social media, from actual media members all the way down to the fans that casually watch from week to week. Some people actually thought he had totally forgotten how to throw a football.

There was pressure on James Coley for the playcalling, on the offensive line for not living up to all the hype, and on Kirby Smart for not wanting to scrap his entire offensive playbook and go with the Air Raid.

The South Carolina game was brutal. The Bulldogs never should have lost, but when you turn the ball over four times and the best kicker in Georgia history has an off day, bad things can happen. That isn’t who this team is, but it’s hard to prove otherwise until you actually get a chance to do so on the field.

The game against Kentucky did not give the Bulldogs that chance as it rained all day prior to and for the entirety of the game, creating conditions that were ripe for turnovers.

Understanding that Kentucky was playing with a former wide receiver at quarterback — a very good athlete but wasn’t going to throw the ball all over the field — it only took one rain-soaked throw to the sideline for the Georgia coaches to decide the easiest path to victory was to lean on the stout offensive line that Sam Pittman helped curate.

That decision led to D’Andre Swift eating up 179 yards and scoring twice en route to a 21-0 win. It also led to more questions about the Georgia passing attack, whether fair or not.

So after a bye week in which practice was closed to the media, fans were all left wondering what to expect when the Bulldogs took the field in Jacksonville for the annual “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party”. What we got was a 24-17 win that wasn’t as close as the score would indicate.

If not for a late score by the Gators with less than 4 minutes remaining, the game would have finished with a spread two times the size of what Vegas had predicted when they closed at -6 for the Dawgs.

We saw the offensive line protect Jake Fromm like no team has been able to against the tough Gator front all year. A team that entered the game with 29 sacks didn’t get to Fromm once. His jersey was dirty by then end of the first drive but it wasn’t because the highly touted defensive ends from Florida had sacked him. His jersey was dirty because he used his legs to maneuver in the pocket and gain crucial yardage that would lead to the first score of the game, a 31-yard field goal from Rodrigo Blankenship.

The running game was spotty against the dangerous front seven of Florida but did finish with a substantial 119-21 rushing advantage over the Gators. Swift rushed for 86 yards and would have eclipsed the 100 yard mark if a 35 touchdown run in the fourth quarter hadn’t been called back due to a holding penalty.

Fromm finished with 20 completions on 30 pass attempts for 279 yards and 2 touchdowns. There were no interceptions. In fact, there were no turnovers in the game at all.

Fromm conquered a few demons on Saturday. This was the first game Georgia won when he has attempted 30 or more passes, which is somewhat meaningless, but always gets mentioned on television broadcasts. He wasn’t sacked and he didn’t turn the ball over.

In fact, when facing the most pressure play in the game, Fromm completed a 22-yard pass to Eli Wolf on 3rd and 7 to ice the game. It was the final third down conversion on a day that saw Georgia convert 12 of 18 chances. On the other hand, Florida was 2 for 9.

The defense continued its dominant season. All Georgia heard heading into the game was that Florida had one of the most talented wide receiver groups in the nation. And I’m not here to dispute that. They are super talented and deep at that position. But the Georgia secondary was up to the task, allowing no receiver to eclipse 100 yards and holding the super talented tight end Kyle Pitts to only 4 catches.

Part of the success against the Florida wide receivers goes to the front seven as well. The defensive line got to Kyle Trask twice, with Azeez Ojulari being credited with a sack and Malik Herring and Jordan Davis splitting one. He was pressured multiple times during the game and Georgia defended six passes.

Lastly, thanks to the Georgia defense the Florida run game was non-existent. The 21 yard total would have been 43 yards if the sacks were excluded, but holding the Gators under 50 yards rushing was one of the major keys to victory.

I heard multiple analysts predict the winner of the game to be the team that had more success on the ground. Florida could not find any daylight running the ball, with their longest run from scrimmage being nine yards. Georgia has still not allowed a rushing touchdown during the 2019 season (the only FBS team who can make that claim).

In the end, all the hand-wringing turned into clapping and yelling. The answers were on the field and not the message board. And our rival was quieted, which is the way I like it. The media is backtracking and can now be seen riding on the back on the Georgia bandwagon. The pundits who questioned Jake Fromm are now wondering why they ever did.

The Bulldogs ate on Saturday and because of their efforts, all of the team goals are still out in front of them. They have a tough road ahead, beginning with Missouri this Saturday. Then it is on to Auburn and Texas A&M. If they play with the intensity that they played with on Saturday in Jacksonville, a trip to Atlanta to face one of the powers from the West would be next.

There will remain doubters. There will remain people who question Georgia’s ability to keep up the consistency and put pressure on opposing defenses. There will be fans on the message board that aren’t convinced what we saw Saturday is sustainable. But as of right now, the Dawgs have taken away all the doubt I had. And I’m looking forward to a strong finish to this season!