After a distasteful defeat by Florida, against a depleted Georgia team in 2020, the Dawgs mailed their revenge, stamped by “The Mailman” himself, Stetson Bennett IV. The win over Florida, coupled with Kentucky’s loss to Mississippi State, clinched the SEC East for the Dawgs. Georgia will be going to the SEC Championship!

In the SEC Championship, Georgia will likely go up against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Looking at the statistics from Georgia’s routing of the Florida Gators, fans cannot help but look ahead and wonder if Georgia is ready for Alabama, but there are four games until the SEC Championship. Georgia will be at home against Missouri this week, then at Tennessee, home against Charleston Southern, then at Georgia Tech. There is a lot of football left in the regular season. Hopefully, Georgia can stay healthy and stay dominant during this final stretch.

21

21 points resulting from turnovers … all happening within three minutes and four seconds. Nolan Smith stripped the ball back from Florida after Stetson threw an interception. Smith later intercepted the ball on a pass tipped by Travon Walker, and Nakobe Dean had a 50-yard pick six. Each time Georgia’s offense got the ball back during this stretch of time, Georgia scored a touchdown on the first play of the drive. This highlights the high caliber nature of Georgia’s defense and the big play ability of Georgia’s offense. To be “Elite,” Georgia must first make turnovers, and then take advantage of any turnovers they make. They succeeded in this against Florida.

202

This was a run heavy game for Georgia. 202 yards gained on 33 running plays. The Dawgs were very successful against Florida by having explosive plays. Zamir White was the workhorse, 105 yards gained on 14 attempts, his longest run being a whopping 42-yard touchdown at the end of the fourth quarter. James Cook also had a good game, 46 yards gained on 10 carries and a touchdown. Stetson even had some high-quality runs and scrambles, once picking up a 20-yard gain after nearly being sacked. Opponents should not discount Georgia’s run game and Bennett’s scrambling abilities.

4-9

Georgia only converted 4 of the 9 third downs they had. That is only a 44% conversion rate. By comparison, Alabama is leading the league with an average of 61.32%. Georgia’s average 3rd down conversion is 46.74%. The purpose of having a good conversion rate is to avoid fourth downs and potential turnovers. Florida only converted 4 out of 13 of their third downs, which is an abysmal 30% conversion rate. Georgia’s defense is good enough to make the stops, but their offense must perform better on 3rd downs.

2

Two interceptions thrown by Stetson Bennett. I love the Mailman, I do, but the two throws that were intercepted were throws that he should never have made in the first place. Stetson made two mistakes that could have cost the Dawgs dearly. To be fair though, that second interception was in the 4th quarter in a game that was practically over. I want to see Georgia play aggressively, but I also would rather see Stetson throw the ball away than try and force a big play and give the ball away. Stetson did also make some good throws. One example was a 36-yard touchdown pass to Kearis Jackson in the back corner of the endzone. Stetson makes good plays, Stetson makes good throws, but to be “Elite” he must be near perfect with his decision making. Georgia’s defense was able to bail out his mistakes, but against high quality teams, the defense will need time to recover and not have to cut their rest short when an offensive turnover occurs in potentially a bad field position.