JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It was like old times for the Georgia Bulldogs against Florida as they won the “Cocktail Party” again Saturday.
Back in the days when coach Vince Dooley was patrolling the sidelines, the Gators always seemed to find a way to lose. They certainly didn’t help their own cause in the 102nd meeting against Bulldogs on Saturday, making a myriad of mistakes that Georgia feasted on like premium dog food. There was even a “Fourth and Dumb” play, circa 1976.
It all added up to another second-quarter onslaught for the No. 1-ranked Bulldogs and a 43-20 victory here at EverBank Stadium.
“Mission: ‘Team/Me.’ We talked about it all week,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “The mission was to put the team first and ‘me’ last. We had a lot of guys who did that today. We knew if we did it together, if we put ourselves out there, we knew we could play winning football. I feel this team is improving. We’re getting better, but we’re still not where we need to be.”
The victory was Georgia’s sixth in the past seven games against the Gators and established a school record with 24 consecutive SEC regular-season wins. The two-time defending national champions also extended several other record streaks, including 35 consecutive regular-season wins and 25 consecutive wins overall.
It also should extend Georgia’s run as the Associated Press No. 1 team to 20 consecutive weeks. That’s a ranking the Bulldogs (8-0, 5-0 SEC) should carry into next week’s home game against No. 16 Missouri (7-1, 3-1) at Sanford Stadium (3:30 p.m., CBS). The question is whether Georgia will garner the No. 1 spot in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season. Those will be released Tuesday night.
But that’s all next week and won’t matter then anyway. As for Saturday afternoon/evening, it was as complete a victory as Georgia has put together all season. That’s based on the combination of offensive and defensive production. Never mind the final score. Much of the Gators’ yardage was logged with the outcome decided in the fourth quarter (147). As it was, the Bulldogs outgained them 486-339.
Quarterback Carson Beck, who grew up 18 miles from EverBank Stadium, accounted for most of that. The junior out of Jacksonville’s Mandarin High broke the 300-yard passing barrier for the fourth time in the past five games with 315 and two touchdowns on 19-of-28 passing.
Beck said it actually was the second time he started a game in the Jacksonville Jaguars’ stadium. The last time was when he was 11 years old for the Pop Warner city championship and “we got smoked.”
Not this time.
“For the past four years, since I’ve been at Georgia, I’ve been looking forward to having the opportunity to play in this rivalry and in this stadium,” Beck said, surrounded by reporters, cameras and microphones. “It was a huge moment for me and a huge moment for this team.”
Flanker Ladd McConkey proved to be the answer to Georgia missing tight end Brock Bowers, hauling in six passes for 135 yards, both career highs. And running back Daijun Edwards led a rushing attack that totaled 171 yards with 95 on 16 carries.
On defense, the Bulldogs finally created a turnover off a fumble – they hadn’t all season previously – yanked down quarterback Graham Mertz four times for sacks and hassled him throughout. Georgia also blocked a punt for a safety, both of which were firsts this season.
That the Bulldogs’ defenders played that way after giving up another early touchdown 3-1/2 minutes into the games was a point of pride for both the coach and players.
“It was nothing physical, really. It was just going to sideline, getting our corrections and seeing what they were going to do,” said linebacker Smael Mondon, who had five stops and two of the biggest tackles for loss in the game. “We took our adjustments and just went out there and played. No panic. It’s a long game.”
The turnaround happened rather suddenly. Florida led until Georgia scored its first touchdown near the end of the first quarter. But in the second quarter, things pivoted hard in the Bulldogs’ favor – with a lot of help from the Gators.
Trailing by three and facing third-and-6 from their own 29 early on their third possession of the game, all Florida had to do was punt the ball to Georgia and set about trying to get the ball back.
Only they didn’t.
Reminiscent of the decision that came to be known as “Fourth and Dumb” when Florida coach Doug Dickey went for it deep in his own territory against Georgia in 1976, coach Billy Napier decided to try for a first down on fourth-and-less-than-a-yard. But Mondon sniffed out the play – a direct snap between the legs of the quarterback to running back Trevor Etienne, who was lined up 6 yards behind the line of scrimmage. It looked like Etienne may have been looking to pass, but Mondon was on him too fast. He was dropped for a 3-yard loss.
Second-year coach Billy Napier was criticized by the Florida press for the move.
“Ultimately, at that point in the game, we felt it was going to be a point total that we needed to get to to win the game,” said Napier, known for being a risk-taker. “Felt we had a good play.”
Initially, the Gators were award a first down after the third-down play. But Georgia asked for a replay, and the video review proved the ball to be short of the line to gain.
Smart was neither surprised nor critical of Napier’s decision to go for it.
“Not at all,” Smart said. “In the staff meeting, I said, ‘My gut intuition is this game’s going to come down to some short-yardage situations.’ Typically, when you play Billy, he’s very aggressive in terms of analytics and believes in it, and he has a lot of fourth downs he goes for.”
The Bulldogs took over on downs at Florida 31. On the third play from scrimmage, Edwards scored on a 20-yard run around right end. Not only did Georgia have a 17-7 lead, but also a considerable amount of momentum.
That momentum would manifest itself in Georgia’s defense. After Jamon Dumas-Johnson sacked Mertz for a 9-yard loss on first down, Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins got a hand on the ball as Mertz avoided pressure a second time. Freshman Marvin Jones Jr. pounced on the loose ball at the Florida 11. It was the Bulldogs’ first fumble recovery all season.
It was Ingram-Dawkins’ first game back since sustaining a foot injury in the season opener Sept. 2.
“It was an added boost for us, just morale-wise, to get a guy back that we think could’ve had one of the best years, and he hasn’t been able to,” Smart said. “So I was really proud of him to get that sack, the first fumble recovery of the season.”
Georgia also converted that turnover into a touchdown. On fourth-and-1 at the 2, Edwards ran into the end zone almost untouched. The point-after put the Bulldogs ahead 24-7 with 10:34 still left in the half.
Not even one minute later, Georgia’s Joenel Aguero broke through the left side of Florida’s line to block a punt. The ball careened out of the back of the end zone for a safety.
In less than four minutes, the Bulldogs had outscored Florida 16-0 and wrested control of the game. At that point, Georgia established itself as the better team and knew it.
“Just a cool environment, old-fashioned rivalry, split in the middle 50-50,” McConkey said. “It was awesome seeing all that red at the end of the game.”
