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ATLANTA – In a season of distrust, we can trust Georgia.
The Bulldogs, eager to show the surprising loss to Auburn two weeks ago was more one-off than cause for concern, buried rival Florida 27-8 with a defensive effort that resembled those from Kirby Smart’s back-to-back national championship teams.
Playing the nation’s ultimate Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde team in Florida, on Halloween no less, is no easy shake. But the Bulldogs made it look easy, smothering the Gators in the first half en route to a 24-0 lead. Florida tried two quarterbacks by halftime, with the first one (Aaron Philo) throwing two interceptions and the second one (Tramell Jones Jr.) surrendering a sack-and-strip touchdown.
No national championship contender has been invulnerable every week. Miami is the closest, though that double-overtime victory over struggling Florida State came with some questionable late calls in the Hurricanes’ favor. Indiana seems to fight for its life every game, Ohio State has an untested backup QB, Notre Dame hasn’t won a big game in two years and Alabama and Texas will more than likely have at least three losses by the time we reach Selection Sunday.
Here’s what we do know about the Bulldogs, who made the first Indoor Cocktail Party a tame affair: If quarterback Gunnar Stockton takes care of the ball, they are going to be tough to beat. His three turnovers in the Auburn game were the deciding factor in that upset (along with a dumb roughing the passer penalty).
"I do think there's some things tonight that Gunner missed that he knows he could do better and he could hit and if he does it takes us to another level," Smart said. "We really haven't played where the offense was clicking completely and the defense was. We haven't done that yet."
Against the Gators on Saturday, Smart played it smart, making sure his offense was going to do the Gators no favors when it came to field position. Georgia threw the ball 23 times and ran it 42 times. Florida’s first six possessions started at its own 25-yard-line or worse. It is not going to be easy to drive the field against the plus athletes Georgia rolls out there.
"We avoided turnovers for the most part, and we got turnovers," Smart said. "The Dogs didn't beat the Dogs today, and the Gators helped us with some of the turnovers they had."
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Georgia's defense is deep across the board. Ten different Bulldogs had a tackle for loss. Chris Cole, in addition to his TFL, had a 55-yard fumble return for a touchdown. Demello Jones had a TFL and an interception, and Ellis Robinson IV and Braylon Conley also had key interceptions, the final one coming in the end zone to deny the Gators their first points midway through the third quarter. That’s 12 different players who made a chaos play for defensive coordinator Glenn Shumann.
"The defensive staff did a tremendous job trying to keep things simple because (Florida offensive coordinator) Buster (Faulkner) causes a lot of confusion, and we didn't do a whole lot," Smart said. "We kept it simple and played fast, played hard."
When you see Georgia live, the team speed on defense sticks out year after year. No team goes sideline to sideline like the Bulldogs. If track competitions were like wrestling and competitors were grouped by different weights, I’m taking the Georgia defenders to win a sprint in every weight class.
On the other side of the ball, the Georgia offense did not look overpowering. Gunner Stockton was just 13 for 23 for 101 yards and had only 68 yards passing after three quarters. Importantly, though, Georgia took care of the ball for the most part. Florida’s only touchdown came courtesy of a fumble by Georgia wide receiver Tayln Taylor that set up Florida at the Georgia 48-yard-line. The Gators had to convert two fourth downs in order to finally get it in the end zone.
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