Quarterback

In his third year starting against Florida, Aaron Murray had his third first half that he would like to forget in Jacksonville. The Bulldog signal called threw three interceptions and all three were poor throws and decisions. Those three interceptions gave many the feeling that this just wasn't Georgia's day to break through against a top 10 team, but Murray's second half play, luckily for UGA, was much better. In the second half, Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo called more plays to get the ball to Georgia's receivers on the outside. On the most critical drive of the game for the Bulldogs, Murray was 4 of 6 passing for 80 yards and a 45-yard touchdown pass to Malcolm Mitchell. The Tampa native's second half could have been more impressive if not for four huge drops. At least three of those drops would have moved the chains. It is clear that Murray couldn't have started much worse, but we've said it before. The job of a quarterback is to win. Murray did that and he fought through a disastrous first half to make plays and help the Bulldogs win. Grade: B-

Running backs

Freshman Todd Gurley proved, on a big stage against a top 10 team, that he is the real deal. Gurley finished with 118 yards on 27 carries and a touchdown. He blocked well all night, had two catches for 23 yards, and did an excellent job of wearing down the Florida defense. Out of Georgia's 35 run plays in the game, Gurley carried the vast majority. Keith Marshall only had four carries on the game, but picked up some tough first down yardage on a couple of drives and seemed to always fall forward. Gurley, however, was stole the show with his 100-yard performance and it appears that the Bulldogs have found their workhorse of the future. Grade: A

Wide receivers

This game is a mixed bag for the Georgia pass catchers. On one hand, they had some key drops and penalties. On the other hand, they made some huge plays that allowed Georgia to win a big game. Mitchell lead the Bulldogs in receiving with five catches for 75 yards and a touchdown. His 45-yard catch and run in the fourth quarter was one of the biggest plays in the recent history of the Georgia/Florida game. Marlon Brown had a huge catch on that fourth quarter drive as well. The Bulldog receivers also had a few key drops as Brown, tight end Arthur Lynch, and Tavarres King all had balls that they could have brought in for first down catches in the contest, but weren't able to haul them in. Mitchell committed a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty just two plays before his long touchdown. Still, when you beat a top 10 team, it is usually because the positive outweighs the negative. The Georgia receivers will need to clean up these mistakes in the future, but on Saturday, they overcame them. Grade: B+

Offensive line

The Bulldogs have had a few 300-plus rushing performances this season. They've had games where they couldn't be stopped on offense, but the Florida game was their best of the season. The offense only put up 273 yards of offense, but the Georgia offense paved the way for Gurley's performance and didn't allow a sack all night. Georgia was physical up front against a defense that was considered to be one of the elite defenses in the country coming into the game. Kenarious Gates had a strong game at both left guard and left tackle. Mark Beard, when he got a chance at left tackle, had a few negative plays and penalties, but he also played a physical brand of football and did so with an attitude. Dallas Lee had one of his best games of the season as he got a great deal of movement in the run game. David Andrews and Chris Burnette continued their rock solid play and both did an excellent job blocking in space. Burnette had a costly "hands to the face" penalty, but again showed that he is one of the Bulldogs most reliable linemen. It may not turn out this way in regards to grades from the coaching staff, but after reviewing the film, it looked as if freshman tackle John Theus had his most consistent game of the season. Theus did an excellent job holding up against a number of linemen that were stronger and more experienced that him. Overall, it was an excellent performance and on that Will Friend will be able to build on. Grade: A

Defensive line

All it takes is one quick look at the box score to see that the Georgia defensive line had a dominant performance. Florida had 81 yards rushing on 41 carries. Florida had no touchdowns. Georgia sacked the Gators five times. Georgia forced six turnovers. While a number of those sacks and big plays didn't come directly from the defensive line, the Georgia defensive front controlled the line of scrimmage and pushed the pocket all game long. Senior defensive end Cornelius Washington played in the Gator backfield all game, and had a huge pressure and hit on Driskel that forced and easy interception. John Jenkins and Kwame Geathers forced double teams all night and reset the line of scrimmage many times while occupying two blockers. Garrison Smith finished with five tackles and seemed to be all over the field for the Bulldogs. Saturday was, without a doubt, the defensive line's best game of the season. Grade: A+

Outside linebacker

If Jarvis Jones is in the lineup, the Georgia outside linebackers are usually going to grade out well. Today is no different. Jones finished the game with yet another breathtaking stat line in Jacksonville. Jones had 13 tackles, three sacks, 4.5 tackles for a loss, two forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries. Jones, much like the Missouri game, took over during parts of the game, and is a huge reason the defense was able to force six turnovers. The praises at outside linebacker don't stop with Jones. Freshman Jordan Jenkins played big snaps opposite of Jones, and while he didn't turn in a huge stat line, he seemed to always be around the football. Jenkins continually stayed home on misdirection plays and option plays. His quick penetration and aggressive play put other defenders in a chance to make a big play, and it was clearly the best game of his young career. Grade: A+

Inside linebacker

The Georgia inside linebacker group, made up of Amarlo Herrera, Alec Ogletree, Mike Gilliard, and Christian Robinson, combined for 20 tackles. The majority of those tackles were made in aggressive down hill plays, and the ones that weren't were critical tackles made in space. Gilliard had his best game of the season without a doubt with 6 tackles. Herrera and Ogletree added six tackles each, and Robinson, who mainly played on third down, was caught in a few mismatches on Florida receivers and tight ends but did a great job of making those tackles in space. Overall, this group certainly responded to safety Shawn Williams' words from earlier in the week. Grade: A+

Defensive back

This game for the defensive backs wasn't as much about coverage and being active against the pass. They did a very good job of that, but the most impressive part about the Georgia secondary was their tackling. Cornerback Branden Smith had a couple of negative plays in coverage, but he also made a couple of huge tackles in space. Sanders Commings and Damien Swann were constantly active in coverage and in run support. Swann had a huge sack, a forced fumble, and an interception as well. Commings had the fumble recovery that sealed the win for the Bulldogs. Bacarri Rambo and Williams had huge games for the Bulldogs as well. Rambo was as active as I have ever seen in run support, and finished with a sack and an interception that thwarted a Florida scoring chance. Williams' played with a great deal of emotion and was an eraser all night. He finished with six tackles, and had an electric tackle on Florida wide receiver Solomon Patton that stopped a fourth down attempt. The secondary covered well. They made plays, and they tackled well. Grade: A

Special Teams

Coming into the game, many thought the Georgia special teams versus the Florida special teams was the most glaring mismatch of the game. As it would turn out, the Georgia special teams held their own. Punter Colin Barber had a huge 48-yard punt from his own territory, and knocked one punt inside the 20 and another inside the 10. Georgia's punt coverage teams were excellent, and the kick coverage team was swarming and physical. Kicker Marshall Morgan exercised his demons on PATs, but missed a big field goal. Much like the South Carolina game last year, the Bulldogs attempted and recovered an onside kick but a very close, very questionable offside call caused it to be called back. Overall, the Bulldog special team's unit wasn't dominant and it didn't win the game, but it did answer the bell. Grade: A-

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