Edwards, McIntosh spearhead Georgia ground game in win over Florida
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - When Georgia needed it most, the running game answered the call.
The Bulldogs had just seen a 25-point halftime lead over Florida trimmed to eight points, thanks to a pair of second-half turnovers. A game that seemed secure now hung in the balance once more.
But behind Daijun Edwards and Kenny McIntosh, as well as a bruising offensive line, the Georgia ground game helped the Bulldogs salt away the 42-20 win over the Gators.
"That’s a freaking mentality shifter," quarterback Stetson Bennett said. "When they have the momentum and we can run the ball down their throat, then they don’t have momentum anymore. That’s how that works."
Georgia's run game had a solid first half. The Bulldogs rushed for 84 yards on 18 carries. Both McIntosh and Edwards found the end zone in the opening 30 minutes.
But things went a little sideways after halftime. Florida scored first after getting the ball out of the locker room. On the first play of Georgia's drive, McIntosh fumbled to set up a Gator field goal that made the score 28-13.
The next Bulldog drive ended in an interception. But before that, McIntosh ripped off runs of 13 and 15 yards to flip the field position.
"I thought Kenny McIntosh showed a little something tonight now, when he came out after that fumble," Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said. "He had that eye of the tiger, and he wanted the ball. He was running the ball hard and physical and getting yards after contact."
Another Florida touchdown made the score 28-20 with 3:31 left in the third quarter. That's when the ground game began to take over.
Five of Georgia's six plays on the ensuing possession were runs. McIntosh started the drive with a gain of 11. Edwards had a 20-yard run and then punctuated the series with a 22-yard scoring jaunt. Smart called that series "probably the drive of the year so far."
"(Edwards) is a patient runner," Smart said. "He eats yards after contact. That run that he broke out of there, I think was really big for us that took it from eight to 15. That was a huge run. He was really patient. I don't know if those guys can see him behind there because he's so little."
Center Sedrick Van Pran said the mindset today felt similar to the win over Missouri earlier this year. When the offense needed to get things going, the Bulldogs put it on the shoulders of the big guys up front.
They did just that when they took over at the Florida 49-yard line up 15 points with 13:58 to play. After being set up with a first-and-goal, McIntosh took a handoff and met some Gator defenders. His offensive linemen pushed him into the end zone to put the Bulldogs up 42-20, icing the game.
Smart had a simple message for McIntosh after that touchdown.
"I told him he’s a bad MFer," Smart said. "I thought when he came back after the fumble, he came back with a vengeance. You watch the way he ran the ball, it was like, that dude’s running possessed. He wanted it. It reminded me of Nick (Chubb) and Sony (Michel) in the (Rose Bowl) game against Oklahoma where he was like, oh man, give me the ball back, coach, I messed it up. He ran pissed off. That’s what Kenny did.”
Overall, Georgia ran for 239 yards on 40 carries, an average of six yards per attempt. In the second half alone, the Bulldogs racked up 155 yards on the ground.
Edwards went for 106 yards and two touchdowns, the first Bulldog this year to crack the century mark. McIntosh chipped in 90 yards and two more scores.
There has been much made about Georgia as more of a passing offense this year. But when the chips were down against Florida, the Bulldogs went back to the ground. As Bennett said, the identity of the Georgia offense is just to get it done however necessary.
"First downs and touchdowns, that’s what it is," Bennett said. "I don’t think it really matters how we do it. We move the ball down the field, and when we get in the red zone, we want to score touchdowns. I think that’s the identity."