Florida Gators

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The difference Saturday was solid quarterback play and ball security. Georgia had both, Florida had neither, and for those reasons the No. 7 Bulldogs will play for the Southeastern Conference East Division title next week.

The No. 9 Gators, meanwhile, still have plenty to play for as far as the bowl season is concerned, but they also have much to repair after a second straight game in which they undermined a lot of what they did well by playing give-away. 

Jake Fromm passed for 240 yards and three touchdowns, backup tailback D'Andre Swift rushed for 104 yards and a score, and the Bulldogs defense forced three turnovers and limited the Gators to a season-low in total yards on the way to a 36-17 win in the annual rivalry showdown on the St. Johns River. By beating Florida (6-2, 4-2) for a second straight year, Georgia (7-1, 5-1) set up a showdown against No. 12 Kentucky (7-1, 5-1) next week at Lexington, Ky., where the winner will clinch the SEC East and accompanying berth in the conference title game at Atlanta. 

Georgia cranked out 429 yards of total offense, converted 8 of 14 third downs (half of them for touchdowns) and did not turn the ball over. In contrast, Florida managed just 275 yards (a season low), fumbled twice (once on its own 1), threw an interception and tallied just 105 yards through the air (also a season-low). UF quarterback Feleipe Franks completed 13 of 21 passes, with both a touchdown and interception, and also was responsible for that backed-up fumble.

"I don't think we played very well at all," Gators coach Dan Mullen said. "It probably was our worst execution performance of the year and I am really disappointed in that."

The defeat snapped a five-game winning streak for Florida. And while it eliminated the Gators from the league race, they can still set themselves up for a nice bowl trip by holding serve at home in the "Swamp," site of their next three games, before finishing the regular season on the road against a struggling Florida State team. 

"We need to have our guys more prepared and remind them that anything can happen at any time," UF defensive lineman Cece Jefferson said. "This was a tough one to lose."

Georgia scored on its first two possessions. Florida turned it over on its first two possessions. 

For the Gators, not the way to start a top-10 showdown. 

"Aren't going to win too many games doing that," Mullen said.

Georgia took the opening kickoff and, keyed by runs of 14 yards by Elijah Holyfield and 23 from Swift, had a first-and-goal at the UF 7, but the Florida defense hunkered down. Blitzing linebacker Vosean Joseph sacked Fromm for a 5-yard loss and the Bulldogs had to settle for a 21-yard field from Rodrigo Blankenship just under seven minutes in. 

Florida's first possession, on the first snap, included some trickery that, unlike the previous three games, didn't work. It could've, though. A flea-flicker, with Scarlett taking a handoff and pitching it back to Franks, led to wide receiver Van Jefferson running wide-open down the middle of the UGA secondary. Franks, though, overthrew Jefferson for what would have been an easy 80-yard touchdown. Two plays later, Scarlett rushed for an apparent first down, but fumbled the ball away when wrapped up by linebacker Monty Rice. Safety Richard LeCounte picked up the ball and returned it 32 yards to the UF 13. 

Three plays later, on a third-and-13, Fromm threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to wideout Jeremiah Holloman, who beat cornerback C.J. McWilliams, who was in the game after starter CJ Henderson exited the game on the first drive due to an injury. Two Georgia series in, the Dogs led 10-0. 

Last year, they led 21-0 barely seven minutes in, so there was that working in Florida's favor.  Another Gators' blunder, though, probably had UF fans thinking about that 2017 game. Franks badly underthrew wideout Josh Hammond up the left sideline and the ball was intercepted by defensive back Tyrique McGhee.

"You try to avoid turnovers and I've get to better at that," said Franks, as he flipped through the box score and got his first look at the dreary numbers. "I've got to be a lot better."

Again, the Florida defense rose and forced a punt, with the Gators then going 76 yards on 14 plays, including a big defensive holding call against Georgia on fourth-and-1. Franks' 1-yard touchdown run made the score 10-7 with just under 10 minutes left in the half. 

That was the score when the Bulldogs took possession at their 20 after a UF punt. Fromm threw consecutive completions of 27, 7, 23 and 9 yards to tight end Isaac Nauta that quickly put UGA in field-goal position.

"They were playing a two-deep there that put us in a matchup on a linebacker and, obviously, Isaac is a really good player who was winning that matchup," Fromm said. "I just kept feeding him."

A 9-yard completion to Holloman got the Dogs to the Florida 5 with six seconds to go. Georgia, though, didn't take any chances, opting for the easy field goal, a Blankenship 22-yarder, for a 13-7 halftime lead. 

Out of the break, Kadarius Toney returned the second-half kickoff 51 yards to the Georgia 48. After back-to-back runs of six yards each by Scarlett, Franks dropped and fired an absolute seed down the pipe of the Georgia secondary that Freddie Swain caught for a 36-yard touchdown. Evan McPherson's extra point gave the Gators their first lead of the game, 14-13, at 13:35 of the third. 

It was short-lived. 

"They just kept working and played their tails off," Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart said of his players. 

Georgia, with the help of a 35-yard completion from Fromm to tight end Charlie Woerner, needed just 2:55 to go 72 yards in seven plays and retake the lead 20-14. The scoring play was a 12-yard back-shoulder pass to Holloman, who beat McWilliams for the second time in the same left corner of the end zone.  The two teams exchanged punts, but Georgia won the field-position battle when it pinned the Gators at their 1. On first down, from the shotgun, Franks kept the ball and tried to give his offense some breathing room by ducking into the line for a few yards. Instead, he fumbled. The Dogs recovered at the 2.

"It's frustrating," Swain said of the turnovers. "But you got to keep a level head."

Florida's defense did that. UF appeared to hold the Bulldogs on downs, but McWilliams was called for pass interference trying to defend Holloman on third-and-goal in that same left end zone corner. The flag sent Mullen into a fit on the sidelines, drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that netted zero yards. 

With three more downs from the 1, again, the Gators walled up and forced the Dogs -- after a six-play, zero-yard, nearly four-minute drive -- to settle for an 18-yard Blankenship field goal and 23-14 lead with seven seconds left in the third quarter. On the UF sidelines, players were encouraged following such a gutsy goal-line stand.

"We gave ourselves a chance," junior linebacker David Reese said. 

They did. A 20-yard run by Franks and big third-down pass-interference call (on a bomb into the end zone thrown from backup quarterback Emory Jones) were the big plays on the ensuing UF series, as the Gators cut the lead to 23-17 on a 42-yard field by McPherson with just over 11 minutes to play. 

But then Georgia answered by going 75 yards in nine plays, capped by the Fromm-to-Godwin touchdown, for the Bulldogs' first double-digit lead. After a Florida punt, Swift piled on by splitting the Florida defense, hitting the second level and speeding to a 33-yard touchdown run, a tally that helped Georgia double what UF's number on the scoreboard. 

By then, the east stands at TIAA Bank Field were noticeably empty.

"That's a tough loss to deal with, and we just know what we have to do," Scarlett said. "We had a lot of mistakes, and mistakes can always hurt a team when two good teams go into battle."

Losses can hurt a team when it comes to its psyche, also. Mullen doesn't think that will happen to this bunch. 

Doesn't intend to let it.

"We responded to adversity before [after the loss to Kentucky early this season] and responded in a positive manner," Mullen said. "A lot of football is still left to play for this team and I want to see our guys attack the [next] week with the right attitude, continue to clean up the mistakes we made in the course of the game and, hopefully, continue to executive and grow to be a better football team."