Georgia 27, Florida 8: Bulldogs bruise Gators, cruise to another Cocktail Party win

Only two weeks ago I noted in this space that if your college football team goes -3 or so in the turnover column you’re going to lose just about every college football game you play.

I am absolutely delighted to report that is still true.

Florida needed to play a clean football game to stay in the game against Georgia and did the opposite of that, turning the ball over four times as the Bulldogs never really sweated.

The Georgia offense was not its most impressive. To be fair, the Bulldogs never felt like they needed to get the offense out of second gear, controlling the clock and field position almost from the outset. Still Georgia fans would have liked to see the Bulldogs never offense show a little more explosiveness.

The most explosive aspects of the Red and Black attack this afternoon were the explosive number of screen passes and the explosive number of Gunner Stockton keepers. I didn’t start counting the screen passes seriously until we got to 8, and I still don’t fully understand what was going on there. It was as if Mike Bobo saw the Gators’ beleaguered secondary and decided to give those guys a break.

Gunner Stockton carried the ball 12 times for 46 tough yards on the day, and was equally pedestrian in the passing game, going 13 for 23 for 101 yards and no touchdowns. When Stockton threw a shoulder into Gator Myles Graham to stop his return of a Talyn Taylor fumble he sealed a career first: the first game in which he has had more tackles (1) than touchdown passes (0).

I have every reason to believe the Bulldogs could have scored more points and showed more wrinkles had Coach Smart and Coach Bobo felt it necessary. It wasn’t, and they disn’t. But next week’s showdown with a high octane Ole Miss attack is likely to be different.

But on the bright side, the Bulldog defense uncorked one on the Gators for the ages. Only on their last drive did the Gators finally pass Gunner Stockton alone in rushing yards. The Athenians came close to ending Florida’s nation-leading streak of avoiding shutouts, which now stands at 481 games. That sort of thing is nice, but it really important in the grand scheme of things.

The Bulldog defense held Buster Faulkner’s offense to 236 yards of total offense, barely more than half their season average of 451 yards. We knew the Dawgs would need to bottle up outstanding Florida tailback Jaden Baugh, and they accomplished that mission with gusto, holding the Sunshine State Saurians’ leading rusher to an anemic 38 yards on 17 frustratingly bottles-up carries.

It was arguably Georgia’s best defensive performance of the season against an offense that’s shown the ability to move the ball on good defenses. The competition level goes up next week with a rematch with Trinidad Chambliss and Ole Miss, but this was a good step back after a frustrating defensive effort last week against Auburn.

The victory was Georgia’s sixth in a row against the hated Gators. I am on record is saying that there’s no such thing as a bad victory against Florida, and this one was pretty good. It was a nice way to get back in the win column after the Auburn debacle. It’s once again great to be a Gator Hater, especially when there remains little the Gators can do about it.

Go ‘Dawgs!!!