Georgia Football: 3 simple stats from 8th statement victory
1. Georgia football beats the Gators in yards per attempt
The last stat that stood out was the difference in yards per play for Georgia football and Florida.
Even with the Gators running 22 more plays and gaining one more yard than Georgia overall, they weren’t nearly as efficient per snap as the Dawgs averaged two more yards a play.
On the ground, Georgia averaged 5.8 yards a touch while the Gators averaged 4.1 yards.
Even if the Gators recorded more rushing yards than Vanderbilt and Arkansas did combine against the Dawgs, Georgia was able to stop them when it mattered — look back at that 4-of-13 third-down conversion slide.
Most of the Gators’ rushing yards came in the second half as they recorded 93 on 21 carries as well as three of their four third-down conversions.
On the other hand, Georgia consistently ran the ball throughout the game, even after the Gators rushed for 10 more yards in the first quarter.
After the offensive line settled in, Zamir White and company did too. The senior recorded 105 rushing yards on 14 carries and scored the final touchdown of the game.
Averaging 4.8 yards at halftime turned into 5.8 by the end of the game. When you’re gaining half a first down each time you run the ball, something is going right.
Through the air was a similar situation. Even though Florida’s quarterbacks went 22-of-35 for 194 yards and two picks, they averaged 5.5 yards an attempt and 8.8 yards a completion.
The completion average isn’t a bad number at all, but let’s look at Georgia’s, who averaged 8.5 yards an attempt and 16.1 yards a completion.
Georgia averaged three more yards an attempt and 7.3 a completion. The numbers are a bit skewed in the Dawgs favor because they were able to connect on a 36-yard touchdown pass, but still, outside those two picks from Bennett, it was purposeful when he completed a pass.
Winning a rivalry game like this one — the key is to be purposeful. Any team can go out there and hang 500-total offensive yards on a team, but if they didn’t score when they had chances or missed two field goals, the yardage total doesn’t matter.
Georgia was efficient enough with the ball, and when they have a defense like this one, that is all you need out of them.
Next. Georgia football: Kick off times are irrelevant when you’re special. dark
The Dawgs did a great job against the Gators, especially that defense. Georgia’s defense didn’t give up one explosive play all game. Florida’s longest pass was 21 yards, and their longest run was 19.
So while a shutout would have been epic, to beat the Gators by 27 points and be this much more purposeful should excite the Dawg nation because these kinds of numbers are what win titles.