JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The mission was simple: Stop Florida’s run game and force quarterback Kyle Trask to try and win Saturday’s game with his arm.
A bold strategy? Perhaps. Trask had been playing extremely well since taking over for the injured Feleipe Franks, and responded by leading the Gators to victories in four of their previous five games.
Trask was effective, completing 21 of 33 passes for 257 yards and two scores, but ultimately it was Georgia’s job against the run that left the Gators one-dimensional, just as the Bulldogs had hoped.
Florida rushed the ball 19 times for a season-low 21 net yards, something Georgia defenders said was the plan all along.
“We emphasized that all week,” nose guard Jordan Davis said. “For 13 years, whoever had the most rushing yards won this game. We wanted to have more rushing yards than them.”
That’s exactly what happened. Although the 119 yards also represented a season-low for the Bulldogs, the fact that Georgia’s front seven were so dominant in limiting the Gators’ rush effort enabled Smart’s squad to come away with the seven-point win.
“We want to be physical every week; Every time we step out there, we want to make a statement,” safety Richard LeCounte said. “We wanted to make them one dimensional, keep the quarterback in the pocket, and for the most part we did a good job covering the receivers down the field.”
With the exception of wide receiver Freddie Swain and tight end Kyle Pitts, the Bulldogs accomplished that goal. No other Gator receiver had more than two catches the entire night.
"That was the plan going in. We wanted to suffocate the run and make them one-dimensional. They're going to make plays on you, now. They've got as good a group of receivers as anybody. I'm telling you, there's four guys that are going to be playing in the NFL, and I'm including the tight end,” head coach Kirby Smart said. “They've got good wideouts and that was my concern coming into the game. We knew that we may have to give something up to get something back. But we felt like we had to play for the pass and you had to stifle the run, in order to make them one-dimensional. The flipside of that was I didn't think they'd be able to do what they did to us. But early on it was almost like mirror images. We couldn't run the ball, but we were able to throw it."
Although Georgia sacked Trask only two times, both sacks were huge, momentum-changing plays that went for losses totaling 29 yards, forcing punts.
Azeez Ojulari sacked Trask for a 10-yard loss, while Malik Herring and Jordan Davis combined for the second, which went for a loss of 19 yards.
“He’s been good, he’s been effective. What did he have, one sack? It was a big sack to knock them back,” Smart said of Davis. “As for Azeez, he’s played well, he’s one of the hardest workers, he’s kind of the leader of that outside linebacker’s group, he never says a dang word, he’s just a great kid. I thought he has played really physical. He brings a physical presence to our team."
