Georgia, on the road, down early in the first half. It is almost a given at this point in the season. But this Georgia football team continues to meet adversity early in these football games and rise to the occasion every week.
Fast starts for Georgia and Florida
With that said, quarterback Gunner Stockton had another quality game going 20 of 29 passing for 223 yards and two touchdowns. The first drive he went four fo four with two strikes to Dillon Bell including an eight yard touchdown catch, a pass to each tight end Oscar Delp and Elyiss Williams for their only catches of the game, leading the Bulldogs down the field to start the game up 7-0.
Florida to start the game, you could see that their game plan was going to revolve around, wide receiver Eugene Wilson III. Quarterback DJ Lagway connected with him on the first two offensive possessions for Florida for three catches, 52 yards, and a touchdown. Lagway and Wilson connected on a 40-yard touchdown pass that seemed like a busted coverage for the Georgia secondary, something Bulldog fans are starting to get worried about as we get our feet wet into early November. More on this a little later.
Disaster strikes Georgia
On the ensuing drive, Stockton threw his second interception of the season off a tipped ball that was a tad behind his wide receiver on Georgia's own 45 yard line. Intercepting the ball was stud defensive back Devin Moore. Following that play, again was Lagway and Eugene Wilson III connecting on a 28 yard pass over the middle and there wasn't a Georgia defender within five yards of Eugene. Florida had to settle for a field goal, hit through by kicker Trey Smack giving Florida an early 10-7 lead.
So here we are again, groundhogs day for this Georgia Bulldogs team. How will they respond being on the road in a Florida environment in Jacksonville? Following the field goal by Trey Smack, each team punted three times until Georgia was able to tie the game with a field goal just before the half evening up the score 10-10 going into halftime.
Georgia groundhogs day begins
Onto the second half and Florida is stopped right away going three and out on their first possession. What does Georgia do? They go 74 yards to score a touchdown in five plays. They got two chunk plays from Stockton, one to wide receiver Zachariah Branch for a 42-yard hookup, and a 22-yard touchdown pass and catch to wide receiver Noah Thomas who is seeing increased play time with wide receiver Colbie Young injured. Georgia takes a 17-10 lead early in the third quarter, but Florida responds right back with a 12 play, 79-yard drive and a touchdown from running back Jadan Baugh from two yards out tying the game at 17 all.
Georgia follows up that drive with a quick three and out because of a mishap with the snap on first down killing the drive and setting up a 2nd and 21. Georgia punted away and Florida marched down the field for a long 54-yard field goalgiving Florida a 20-17 lead. Georgia again follows up the score with a three and out and now it looks like Georgia is in trouble of possibly losing this game.
Thankfully, interim head coach Billy Gonzales for Florida, overthinks a 4th and 1 situation and instead of kicking the field goal and taking the points rushes the ball with Jadan Baugh. He slips in the backfield and falls short of the line to gain, giving the Bulldogs another shot of at least tying this game with less than eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Georgia then took the ball and marched 82 yards on seven plays for a touchdown to retake the lead for a final score of 24-20 on a Chauncey Bowens 36-yard scamper through the heart of the Florida defense. Bowens ran for 70 yards on just nine carries in this game and helped solidify the win for Georgia.
Georgia held on just like they always do
Florida with one last hope encountered a controversial call that will have Gator fans thinking what if. On a 3rd and four, Lagway aired out a deep ball, to again, a wide open receiver behind the Georgia secondary. The ball was underthrown and the receiver for Florida tried to cup his arms underneath the ball but replay deemed it incomplete. There wasn't an evident angle to confirm whether the ball had hit the ground or not, but because the call on the field was incomplete that is what the officials stuck with. It even had the commentators in the booth saying he may have caught it.
Florida could not convert on 4th and four and turned it over on downs on their final two possessions of the game, and that was all the difference in the game. Stockton had a chance to extend the lead but decided to take the first down and kneel at the Florida one yard line. This had Georgia -7.5 and over 50.5 bettors pulling hairs but the Bulldogs survived a close one in Jacksonville, with a final 24-20, Georgia Bulldogs victory.