JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Third-ranked Georgia didn't need much time Saturday to remove whatever intrigue there was to its annual rivalry game against Florida.
Try 21 points on its first eight plays.
From there, the Bulldogs positively pulverized the Gators, leaving EverBank Field with a 42-7 blowout win that marked their largest victory margin in the storied series since a 44-0 shutout in Herschel Walker's Heisman Trophy-winning 1982 season and leaving the Gators to ponder speculation about the future of UF coach
Jim McElwain. The outcome marked a third straight Southeastern Conference defeat for Florida (3-4, 3-3), which once again showed next-to-nothing as far explosive plays on the offensive side of the ball.
"I know what I was brought here to do," McElwain said in his postgame news conference after falling to 22-12 in three seasons, 16-9 against SEC opponents. "Look, we haven't been good on offense. I get it. We've won a few games, but haven't won enough. We haven't won a championship. That's real, and I take full responsibility for it."
Senior tailback Sony Michel rushed six times for 137 yards and two touchdowns to highlight a UGA offense that cranked out 292 yards on the ground, a figure that was more than Florida managed all told. The Gators finished with just 230 yards, including a mere 66 through the air, and may have lost standout true freshman tailback Malik Davis to a serious knee injury.
UF starting quarterback Feleipe Franks completed 7 of 19 passes for 30 yards, turned the ball over twice and was sacked five times before being benched in the fourth quarter in favor of senior graduate transfer
Malik Zaire. In his first action since the season-opening loss to Michigan, Zaire immediately led the Gators on a nine-play, 71-yard drive, capped by a 1-yard touchdown run by senior running back
Mark Thompson with 2:42 to play. That score prevented what would have been the end of Florida's NCAA-best streak of games without being shut out. That number is now 368, dating to 1988.
After that, there wasn't much for the Gators to feel very good about on the drive back to Gainesville.
It was a tough day for redshirt freshman quarterback Feleipe Franks, who passes for just 30 yards, was intercepted once, fumbled once and was sacked five times.
Florida, which was coming off back-to-back home losses and a bye week, lined up for the first play of the game and before the Gators could even execute a snap they were called for a false-start penalty.
Things quickly went downhill from there.
"We just weren't mentally prepared on some things," UF senior cornerback
Duke Dawson said.
Not even halfway through the first quarter, the Bulldogs had a 6-yard touchdown run from tailback Nick Chubb, turned a Franks interception into a 17-yard touchdown pass from Jake Fromm, and got a 74-yard touchdown dash from Michel to jump ahead 21-0 and make a rapid-fire impression on the 84,107 in the house.
"It sucks because we practiced so hard this past week," UF defensive tackle
Khairi Clark said. "To come out and not execute what we practiced and have them run all over us is just embarassing."
The Bulldogs needed just four plays to go 53 yards on their opening drive, with the first big hitter coming when Fromm, the talented true freshman, swung a pass to third-team tailback D'Andre Swift that went for 39 yards to the UF 6. On the next play, Chubb went up the gut of the UF defense for a touchdown less than four minutes into the game.
On UF's second possession, Franks was flushed to his right and threw into coverage. Safety Dominick Sanders picked off the pass and returned the play 13 yards. The Bulldogs scored three plays later when Fromm sailed a pass into the end zone that wide receiver Javon Wims leaped and snared over true freshman cornerback
Marco Wilson.
After another UF three-and-out and 47-yard punt from
Johnny Townsend, Michel took a first-down handoff into the line from the Georgia 26 and wasn't touched until he crossed the goal line 74 yards downfield.
Georgia outgained Florida in total yards 188-34 in the first quarter.
"Obviously, it didn't turn out the way we wanted," McElwain said. "They jumped on us early."
After that, the statistics only slightly evened out.
The Gators had a chance to get some points late in the first half when they drove 82 yards and faced a fourth-and-2 at the Georgia 4, but Franks threw short and incomplete for tight end
Moral Stephens on the 15th play of the march to come up empty.
"The defense held," Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart said. "I thought that was a turning point."
On Georgia's second possession after intermission, Michel took off for another long touchdown run, this one for 45 yards, on his way to averaging 22.7 yards per carry on the day and a 28-0 lead. Then, on UF's ensuing possession, Franks was sacked for a 20-yard loss by blitzing defensive backs Tyrique McGhee and J.R. Reed. The ball squirmed loose and Reed picked it up and walked into the end zone to make the score 35-0.
When sophomore fourth-team tailback Elijah Holyfield took off for a 39-yard touchdown run less than four minutes into the final period, the score was 42-0 and the Gators were on the verge of suffering their worst loss since a 45-3 wipeout at Tennessee in 1990.
Backup quarterback Malik Zaire, in his first action since the season-opening loss to Michigan, completed 3 of 6 passes for 36 yards and also rushed for 30 yards on two carries.
Zaire, though, got the Gators on the scoreboard late to help salvage, well, maybe a little something.
A very little.
"We have to keep on playing. We have a bunch of big games ahead of us," Franks said. "One thing we're not going to do is point fingers and complain. We cannot live in the past. We have to live in the now."
Right now, the "now" is a tough place for the Gators to be.
