The Florida Gators were the opponent listed for yesterday’s game. The Florida Gators were the team that lined up on the field yesterday. It was the Florida Gators that stole momentum at the beginning of the second half scoring touchdowns and forcing turnovers. But, at the end of the day the Georgia Bulldogs’ biggest opponents were themselves. 

Turnovers were the story yesterday in Jacksonville. The Bulldogs had three. Two interceptions (one of which was quite questionable but a turnover nonetheless) and one fumble. 

Similarly to the situation we saw when the Dawgs traveled to Columbia, Missouri to face off against the Tigers, Georgia walked into the day the better team, left as the better team, but didn’t necessarily play like they were the better team. 

The first half was as close to perfection as you could ask for. The offense was doing well scoring 28, and the defense was holding up keeping the Gators to only 3 points and 103 total yards of offense. 

Now the second half was a different story. A touchdown, a forced fumble and a big play touchdown were key factors in momentum swinging Florida’s way, but instead of putting the Dawgs down, all it did was call them up. 

Talking to Chris Smith after the game, he said that the team had to pull out their “composure cards” again and remember to be resilient. 

Although the Gators were able to find that success, Georgia held firm and went back to its roots in response. We could see heavy reliance on the running game to create legitimate offensive drives so the Dawgs could answer the Gators’ scores with points of their own. 

Stetson Bennett showed out too, converting a key fourth down to get the Dawgs on the board and making a fine pass to Brock Bowers in the process. 

Even with multiple injuries to key offensive lineman and on the defense, the Dawgs remained connected and never allowed the Gators to even tie the game. Georgia was able to stay ahead and didn’t blink in the face of adversity. 

With Tennessee up next, the Georgia Bulldogs will be in for one helluva game, but for the meantime Coach Smart and his team will enjoy this win and rest after beating yet another SEC opponent. 

Things will pick up Monday as the Dawgs will begin practice anticipating the arrival of the Volunteers this coming Saturday.