JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The final score showed a Georgia blowout of 34-7, which made for quite a frustrating three-plus hours for half the crowd Saturday afternoon at TIAA Bank Field.
The game, though, really was decided over two-plus disastrous minutes.
For nearly a half, the Florida Gators, with a redshirt freshman quarterback making his first career start and much-maligned defense making stops, stared down the No. 1-ranked Bulldogs to a virtual standoff. UGA led by a mere field goal with 2:22 left in the first half, and the Gators possessed the ball deep in their own territory.
Six seconds later it was 10-0.
Forty-seven seconds later it was 17-0.
Eighty-eight seconds later it was 24-0.
Officially, the game ended two hours later, with the Bulldogs (8-0, 6-0) ringing up a 12th straight victory (dating to the week after UF's win in this game last year), while the Gators (4-4, 2-4) dropped their third of the last four. Let the record show UF basically lost the game in those 141 seconds at the end of the second quarter.
"Critical mistakes, right there," UF coach Dan Mullen said.
Richardson, the 6-foot-4, 236-pounder from Gainesville, finally got the call the Florida fan base for weeks had been braying about on social media. It was a lot to ask, facing a defense not only ranked first nationally but looking more and more like a generational unit. Richardson helped further that cause.
His fumble led to an immediate Georgia touchdown. His interception two snaps later led to another immediate touchdown. His pick-six seven plays later put a black-and-red exclamation point on the afternoon and put the Gators in a 24-0 hole at intermission.
"He's not an experienced player yet," UF senior tailback Dameon Pierce said in defense of the young quarterback, who left the game in the second half with an undisclosed injury. "Experienced players know there are good days, bad days, especially at the quarterback position."
UF coach Dan Mullen consults with and consoles Anthony Richardson during the redshirt freshman's first (and rough) career start. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
Richardson left town with a lot more experience, but not necessarily the enjoyable kind. He finished the day having completed 12 of 20 passes for 82 yards and the two interceptions before giving way to Emory Jones, who started the season's first seven games. Jones completed 10 of 14 passes for 112 yards and ran two yards for Florida's lone touchdown, just the fifth TD the Georgia defense has surrendered this season.
Quite a flip from a year ago when Kyle Trask and friends shredded the Dogs "D" for 571 yards, including 474 through the air, in a 44-28 victory. The Bulldogs made themselves remember that game all week in preparation.
"This was personal," UGA linebacker Nolan Smith said.
They played like it, especially on that side of the ball.
Quarterback Stetson Bennett completed 10 of his 19 passes for 161 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, while tailback Zamir White keyed a rushing attack with 105 yards of the team's 193 yards. Georgia actually was out-gained in total offense by Florida, 355-354, and matched UF with three turnovers. UF's turnovers were louder, however, and deep in their own territory.
"Football is a great team game, the best team game. We have to feed off each other," Mullen said. "When the defense is playing great, the offense has to respond. When the offense makes critical errors, the defense has to step up. You can't give an inch in those scenarios."
Whether Florida gave those inches or Georgia took them, didn't really matter. The Gators did, however, give the Bulldogs exactly what they needed to take control of a game that looked like anybody's for nearly a half.
The first quarter was a feeling-out process that included three drives, two punts and a missed field goal by each team, with the UF defense going toe-to-toe with the No. 1-ranked unit in the country. Georgia managed to get on the board with its first drive of the second quarter, moving 63 yards in 11 plays, including a 20-yard scamper by Bennett that gave the Bulldogs a first down at the UF 7. The Florida defense held and forced a short field-goal attempt from Jack Podlesny. After missing from 46 on the opening drive, Podlesny was true from 21 yards to give Georgia its 3-0 lead at the 8:38 mark of the second period.
Defensive backRashad Torrence II(22) had two interceptions and a fumble recovery for a Florida defense that held Georgia to 354 yards. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
After the Gators turned the ball over on downs inside Georgia territory — an 11-yard sack of Richardson on first down proved too much to overcome — the Bulldogs moved into UF territory, but Bennett's deep shot up the right sideline was intercepted by free safety Rashad Torrence II, the first of three turnovers for Torrence on the day. Torrence made the pick at the 2, with his momentum carrying him into the end zone. He decided to bring it out.
"I knew I didn't [catch] it in the end zone, and if I got tackled in the end zone it'd be two points for the other team," Torrence said. "So I had to get out of the end zone."
He was tackled at the 2. The Gators made a big play, but their offense and young QB were backed up.
Two plays later, while fighting for extra yardage and trying to get out from under his goal posts, Richardson was stripped of the ball by defensive end Nolan Smith at the UF 11. On first down, tailback James Cook went off right tackle cleanly, then cut back for an 11-yard touchdown run and 10-0 Georgia lead.
On the second play of Florida's next possession, Richardson's pass downfield was tipped en route to wideout Xzavier Henderson and intercepted by Smith, for the second turnover in 39 seconds. On first down, Bennett dropped back and dropped in a perfect 36-yard touchdown pass to Kearis Jackson, who beat Torrance up the left sideline. In an instant, the Gators trailed 17-0.
And when Richardson stared down running back Malik Davis on the next drive — looking to hit a deep, long throw across the field — linebacker Nakobe Dean read the play perfectly, stepped in front of Davis and raced 50 yards with a pick-6 with just seven second left in the first half.
Like that, it was 24-zip.
"It was a whole bunch of momentum," UGA coach Kirby Smart said. "You get momentum like that, it can be an over-swell."
Quarterback Emory Jones on the run in relief Saturday. Jones scored UF's lone touchdown late in the fourth quarter. (Photo: Anissa Dimilta/UAA Communications)
More like a game-over-swell. Florida managed to get a turnover on Georgia's opening drive of the third period, forcing a fumble recovered by Torrence. With both Richardson and Jones taking snaps, the Gators got to the UGA 6, but a fourth-and-5 brought on Jace Christmann for a 23-yard chip shot. Christmann, who missed from 51 earlier in the game, missed that one, too.
A Podlesny field goal from 42 yards followed the Christmann miss made it 27-0. With Richardson sidelined, Jones finished the game and managed to march the Gators on a 10-play, 89-yard drive that ended with his two-yard scoring run up the middle to make it 27-7.
Jones' TD was significant if only because it allowed the Gators to keep intact their NCAA record for avoiding shutouts, a run that dates to the 1988 season and grew to 418 games.
Whoop-dee-doo, right?
Georgia canceled out Jones' trip to the end zone when White broke off a 42-yard touchdown run to cap the scoring with 1:57 remaining.
"I feel we shot ourselves in the foot too many times to overcome," Pierce said. "We really just gave it to their defense."
They really did. Three times in a very brief amount of time. It was too much, way too much, to overcome.
