Georgia football strong arms Florida to stay undefeated

Georgia football had to fight a little more complicated than it thought to close the game against Flordia, but the Dawgs still dominated the Gators to win 42-20. Turnovers killed the Dawgs’ momentum at various times in the game, but they still found a way to beat them by 22 points.

The Dawgs came out like a wall in the first half of the game and made Florida look silly. However, Georgia got a little lazy in the second half, and those mistakes made the Gators feel like they were still in the ball game. These mistakes happen to teams, but to have three turnovers is unacceptable.

Georgia is young, so some of these are because of that, but at the same time, some of these errors are coming from veteran players, like starting quarterback Stetson Bennett’s two interceptions. It wasn’t all bad, but those turnovers and a few costly penalties made this game look closer than it was if you consider a 22-point win “close.”

This win was for the late coach Vince Dooley, and I’m sure he would be proud of them, despite that heart attack of a third quarter.

Georgia football embarrasses Flordia to move to 8-0 for the second straight year.

The Dawgs were incredible for most of the game. That first half saw the Gators finish with just 88-yards of total offense, including 13 rushing yards. Florida went 1-of-8 on third down and had one 41-yard completion that gave them that much offense. While Georgia embarrassed the Gators in that first half, the Dawgs went a touch soft in the second half.

Florida finished with 371 total yards — 100 on the ground and 271 through the air. The Gators averaged just 2.9 yards a rush, so the Dawgs did a great job stopping the run. We said whoever would have more success toting the rock would win, and man, did Georgia do that.

The Dawgs recorded 555 total offensive yards, with 316 through the air and 239 yards on the ground. Georgia averaged six yards a rush, and that helped demoralize the Gators.

Daijun Edwards led the pack with 12 carries for 106 yards and two scores, averaging 8.8 yards a touch. He continues to prove himself week after week and to be the first back to record over 100 yards this season is quite the achievement. Kenny McIntosh came close to 100-yards as he finished the game with 16 carries for 90 yards and two touchdowns — that’s a 5.6 rush average.

Branson Robinson came in later in the game and saw nine carries for 35 yards and earned every bit of them. He is working his way up the rotation, and his time is coming.

Bennett made enough plays, but he tried to do the most often against the Gators, resulting in those two picks. The first pick was an incredible play by the Flordia defensive back, but still, Bennett was forcing things and just not on his A-game. He finished the game 19-of-38 for 316 yards, two touchdowns and two picks.

However, all-world stud Brock Bowers was the true difference-maker in this ballgame. He made so many plays. Any time the ball came towards him, Bowers made the play. Bowers finished the game with five catches for 154 yards and one score.

His score was that insane catch for 73 yards where the ball bounced off the defender’s head, and Bowers had to spin around to catch it. He continues to find ways to impress, and this game was huge for him.

Georgia’s defense was still impressive despite a sleepy second half. Javon Bullard led the team with eight tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. Jamon Dumas-Johnson was right behind him with seven tackles and one tackle for loss. However, he did lead the team at first glance in quarterback hurries, recording five of Georgia’s 10. Those numbers will likely increase because Georgia always updates the numbers after rewatching the game.

As a whole, Georgia finished with three sacks and eight tackles for loss. The Dawgs allowed just 4-of-16 third down conversions and 0-of-3 on fourth down. Those are havoc numbers we like to see.

We’ll enjoy this win despite Georgia’s hiccups throughout the game because when a team knows how to find ways to win, those mistakes don’t seem nearly as bad.

Georgia lost the turnover battle, and in years past, that would have been a death sentence for the Dawgs. Not with this team because they find ways to win. If Georgia’s defense can play as it did in the first half of all four quarters next week, the Dawgs could make it back to the playoffs and possibly repeat.