JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Yes, Georgia held Florida to a couple of second-half field goals. But considering the Gators earlier ran roughshod against Georgia’s defense in the first half, that was hardly a reason for celebration.

When you lose 44-28, there's never a reason to smile.

In a game reminiscent of the Bulldogs’41-24 loss at Alabama, explosive plays helped do Georgia in. Five different Gators caught passes of at least 34 yards, as Kyle Trask completed 30 of 43 pass attempts for 474 yards, the most ever by a Florida quarterback against the Bulldogs in the history of the series.

At times, Florida made it incredibly easy, like Kemore Gamble’s 24-yard touchdown catch with nary a Bulldog defender to be seen.

“I always say that if somebody beats you man-to-man and you've got them covered and you can't get the ball out, that's going to happen with the way we play defense. But when you let them score with nobody around and nobody there, it's not good,” head coach Kirby Smart said. “And we had too many of those today, where they didn't beat us, we gave it to them from our defense.”

It was not like the defense didn't have opportunities to make plays.

Cornerback Eric Stokes returned an interception 37 yards for his second pick-6 of the year, but Georgia could have had two more interceptions, including one by Mark Webb in the fourth quarter that would have brought the Bulldogs within a touchdown.

“One of them, I thought we got picked on. They did a good job of picking us, rubbing us. We run the same route, and they did a good job of getting the back out on it,” Smart said. “One of them, we had bad eyes. They ran the same play twice, and Tyrique Stevenson, who has the best ball skills on our team, is getting ready to jump up, and I know he is going to pick it off. I've seen him do it, and he trips and falls over 84, (Kyle) Pitts, and he catches it for a big play.

“Then they come back on the next series, and hit a big play for a touchdown on Mark Webb, where he doesn't see his guy. It's tough when you give those up, because we don't have a simpler call than what we were in on that play. He didn't see him. He didn't look at the right thing.”

Stokes conceded there was a lot that went wrong.

"It's a lot of little things that we need to do,” he said. “As a leader on the team, I need to do better, too. We need to make sure the team is doing the little things right, so we can be ready next Saturday."

Injuries did not help Georgia’s cause.

The Bulldogs’ defense, which did not include Jordan Davis, Julian Rochester, and Richard LeCounte, also lost safety Lewis Cine in the first half after he was kicked out for targeting on a hit to tight end Kyle Pitts.

Cine, who took the worst end of the collision, appeared quite woozy as he wobbled off the field.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, nobody else stepped up as Smart hoped they would.

"Yeah, but I'm not going to make that excuse, because the guys that had those backs on a lot of them were guys that have played. We had a couple of times where Monty (Rice) and Nakobe (Dean) had them and didn't do a good job,” Smart said. “It hurt when Lewis (Cine) went out, because Lewis is a good player. He's a good eraser, but the guys that came in have got to be able to step up and play. Just made too many silly mistakes on defense. You've cannot give people those kinds of points."

Or wide-open plays.

Florida running backs and tight ends accounted for 21 receptions, with at least 12 coming on wheel routes—plays the Bulldogs failed to find a way to defend.

“We had calls we called where we covered them and they beat us. Like Tyson Campbell, he covered 84 (Pitts). He's in really good position. (Pitts is) a back-shoulder player, that is where the ball goes. Tyson plays the back-shoulder throw, and the quarterback threw it over the top, and he couldn't get it out. So I can live with those, because we called a pressure and we tried to pressure the quarterback, and he made a good throw and catch. You know what I mean? I can live with that.

"What I cannot live with is leaving a guy wide open on a wheel route. When you've got him, you should be looking at him. That's your guy, look at him, and somehow you don't look at him, and he's wide open. Those were some of the breakdowns we had.”

Unfortunately, there were more.

“There were several plays where they worked really hard on Kadarius Toney over the middle. He does an elite job of double-moving and faking in, faking out, moving. He's really quick where we have to put a linebacker or a DB on him the way they match him up, and sometimes we covered him and sometimes we did not. When we did not, it was huge. I think we had a chance to stop them and get the ball back, and Mark Webb had Kadarius Toney again and he beat him.

“I give Florida credit for that. Those were not busts—we got beat. But we have to do a better job of helping our players get in a position where they don't get beaten defensively. We can't give up explosives like that. That's the bottom line."