Georgia football has been waiting a long time to get a statement win over the Gators like that since 2017, well, because that was the last time the Dawgs held Florida to seven points.
Much like that win in 2017, the Dawgs were looking to stay perfect on the season and get themselves to Atlanta.
However, this time, Georgia already clinched their spot in the SEC Championship before the end of October.
This team is different than the 2017 one. They have more discipline, tenacity, and sheer want to win it all.
Georgia is tired of coming up short. They’re doing everything right each week, so it’s past time they were rewarded for it.
Florida outgained Georgia football by one yard, but that doesn’t always define a victorious outcome.
Sometimes there have to be a few more momentum-shifting plays to get the win, and that was the biggest trend in Saturday’s game. Georgia’s ability to score 21 points off three Gators turnovers proved to be crucial, and ultimately what helped the Dawgs win.
However, there were some key areas on that statistic sheet that stood out – sometimes, there just needs to be a little more digging to see why a team won.
Florida outgained Georgia 355-354 total offensive yards. Both defenses came to play, which you want to see in a rivalry game like this one. The Gators had two more first downs than the Dawgs, six more rushes and 16 more passes.
So statistically speaking, the Gators should have outgained the Dawgs because they ran 22 more plays. However, to do it by just one yard isn’t that impressive.
Georgia recorded 193 rushing yards on 33 carries and 161 passing yards on 10 catches — now that’s an offense being wise with the snaps they got.
The Dawgs didn’t have to outgain Florida to be successful. Instead, they worked smarter, not harder. After combing through the statistic sheet, here are the three stats that stood out and helped result in another statement victory.
3. Georgia football converted as many third downs as the Gators did
On Saturday, it seemed like the Gators converted third downs left and right, but after looking at the stat sheet, the Dawgs converted just as many.
Both teams converted four third downs, which isn’t good for either team. Georgia went 4-of-9 on third down while the Gators went 4-of-13. The Dawgs averaged 44%, and the Gators averaged 30%.
So while they both had four conversions, Georgia won this stat category because they had a higher success rate. Even though the Dawgs did, that isn’t a great number to see on the page.
Georgia needs to be sustaining drives for long periods to give their defense a rest to keep them sharp. Even though the Gators had the same amount, they did go 2-of-4 on fourth down, so two of those drives lasted longer because they didn’t punt after the Dawgs stopped them.
However, that means Georgia got two turnovers on downs, so technically, they forced five total takeaways on the day — we kid, but hey, it’s the Gators, so morally, if you want to say five, then go for it.
Head coach Dan Mullen knew if he were going to score on Georgia, he would have to find a way to keep those drives going, but the one drive they did score on, they didn’t have to convert on third or fourth down. They did it on first and second, but more on that later.
So when they did catch a moment of weakness from Georgia, they still couldn’t capitalize off it because of either a turnover or the Dawgs’ defense shutting it down.
Give the Gators defense some credit, too, because they were able to force mistakes and hold Georgia’s offense off for a little while.
Those three turnovers, though, gave the Dawgs enough confidence to trust that their defense could hold Florida out of the endzone enough, and they did.
So while you want a team to convert more than four third-downs, those four were enough to win the ballgame.
2. Time of possession is why the Gators scored on Georgia football
When Florida scored in the fourth quarter, Georgia football had a defense that was likely tired. This Gators offense was no pushover, and they had already fought a majority of the game because the Dawgs offense wasn’t sustaining drives.
For the second straight game, the Dawgs lost the time of possession battle, and that isn’t always a must-win thing, but to keep a defense like Georgia’s on their A-game, they need to be fresh.
Georgia won two of the four quarters in terms of possession. The Dawgs held it 8:28 of the first quarter and 8:12 of the third quart.
Florida, though held it for 11:04 in the fourth quarter, and that is when they scored. On that drive, the Gators ran 10 plays in almost five minutes. The drive before that was 5:29, which the Dawgs forced Florida to turn it over on downs — thank you, Nakobe Dean.
Georgia’s defense needed a breather. They had already been on the field a ton, and once again, they got the stop when it mattered.
Well, instead of playing the normal, run the ball and run out the clock game, Todd Monken decided to go with this play sequence — rush up the middle, incomplete pass, rush up the middle, rush up the middle and then rush up the right side.
The Dawgs got two first downs out of those five plays. Still, instead of keeping the ball on the ground and avoiding another mistake, Georgia decided to air it out to AD Mitchell, a freshman against one of the Gators’ best defenders Rashad Torrance.
Mind you, that this was after Torrance already picked off Stetson Bennett once and recovered a fumble. This guy was responsible for all three turnovers, and they still threw it his way.
Georgia got a bit overconfident with that play call, and it resulted in the Gators getting the ball back after already driving down the field just minutes beforehand.
So the Dawgs had to send their defense back on the field, and it isn’t surprising that Florida scored.
Georgia’s offense has got to find ways to sustain drives and keep the defense fresh. It’s excellent that they scored 21 points in two minutes right before halftime, but that defense is why they were able to.
The Dawgs have to keep their best weapon ready to go, and if that means sustaining drives, then they should do it. Now it’s one thing to cough it up early because Georgia wanted points, but that late in the game, with it in the bag, there was no reason to air it out, and yet they did.
Yes, Georgia fans want to see this offense be explosive, but you can’t tell me that the 42-yard touchdown run Zamir White had on the next drive couldn’t have happened instead of an interception.
Georgia has to clean this up if they want to win it all because if that defense isn’t fresh, they won’t.
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.
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.