JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Head coach Kirby Smart said a shoulder injury to Stetson Bennett played a key role in the quarterback’s performance Saturday against Florida.

But the question remains: Why did Smart wait so long to make a switch?

Bennett suffered an AC joint sprain on a hit during his 32-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint. It was a costly touchdown, as Rosemy-Jacksaint suffered what appeared to be a severe injury to his leg on the same play, and had to be carted from the field.

However, Bennett would stay in the game for Georgia’s next offensive series before heading to the locker room. D’Wan Mathis would then get his first crack at quarterback since starting the game against Arkansas.

Bennett would later return, but after throwing an interception on the Bulldogs’ first possession of the third quarter, he was finally taken out of the game for good.

Smart didn't sound like he appreciated the question.

“Why did we wait as long to make a switch? Well, we were making a switch a lot based on his injury and how he was feeling. Know what I mean? Stetson did some good things early in the game,” Smart said. “He had his starting X receiver, Marcus Rosemy, in, and he had Jermaine Burton out there, and he was doing some good things on third down. He stepped up in the pocket. He missed a couple of throws. He had one scramble where I thought he could hit one of our guys on the sideline, and he missed him.

“I don’t know if he missed him because he missed him, or if he missed him because his shoulder was injured. But at that point, we felt like D’Wan was going to give us a chance to do some different things.”

Unfortunately, the results were not much better.

Mathis completed just 4 of 13 passes for 34 yards and two interceptions after Bennett completed 5 of 16 passes for 78 yards.

Smart was asked why JT Daniels didn't get an opportunity.

“D’Wan is our second quarterback, so that’s who we went with,” said Smart, who was later asked by UGASports to specifically explain Daniels’ physical health and why the transfer from USC has yet to get a chance to play.

“Right now, we feel like the other two give us a better shot, because they’ve gotten more of a body of work,” Smart said. “I don’t think necessarily that he has anything with his knee. He doesn’t wear a knee brace anymore. He reps. He takes reps with the scouts, and moves them around, and gives us a really good look. I think he’s still growing and getting better in the offense, but obviously right now, obviously with where we are, we feel they give us the best shot.”

Smart denied that Daniels was “recruited” to be a backup.

“We recruit every player to the same opportunity to come in and get better and compete and play. He got an opportunity to do that in fall camp and actually got a lot more reps than Stetson did,” Smart said. “Stetson didn’t get many reps in fall camp. He took a ton of reps at that time. So did D’Wan, and that’s the way we did our scrimmages all along.”

Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint’s first career touchdown came with a price.

The freshman wide receiver appeared to severely injure his lower leg, just as he was crossing the goal line, when his ankle twisted in a grotesque fashion before falling to the turf.

A subsequent review confirmed that the receiver held onto the football long enough to complete the 32-yard play. The Florida native was taken off the field by a cart.

Rosemy-Jacksaint’s injury wasn’t the only bad news for the Bulldogs, who were already short four starters before kickoff. The Bulldogs lost some more key players during the course of Saturday’s game.

Safety Lewis Cine, who injured his ankle last week at Kentucky, came up woozy after a collision with Gator tight end Kyle Pitts.

Adding insult to injury was the fact Cine was called for targeting and disqualified from the game.

Late in the third, the Bulldogs lost running back Kendall Milton to what Smart said appeared to be an MCL sprain. Jemaine Burton, Major Burns, and Nate McBride all needed to be checked out by the training staff at different points in the game.

The Bulldogs went into the game minus nose guard Jordan Davis (elbow), safety Richard LeCounte (motorcycle accident), Julian Rochester (undisclosed injury), wide receiver George Pickens, and Warren Brinson (sources say concussion).

Running back Kenny McIntosh (knee), meanwhile, traveled but did not play.

“No, because we’ve got good kids on the team. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us next week. We’ve got to play a Missouri team that had the week off. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us—we’ve just got to go play. The leadership on the team, they’ll handle that, they’ll bounce back. We’ll get ready for Missouri and we have to be.” – Kirby Smart on if he’s worried about team’s motivation

…Redshirt freshman defensive lineman Zion Logue traveled to his first road game. and coaches didn’t waste any time getting him into the game. In the second quarter, Logue made a big stop of a Gator running back, right before Eric Stokes’ pick-6 of Kyle Trask.

…Junior Christopher Smith (safety), freshman Jalen Carter (defensive) and freshman Kendall Milton (running back) made their first career starts. The longest active starting streak on offense belongs to center Trey Hill, now with 24 while the longest streak on defense is junior DB Eric Stokes at 2. Senior safety Richard LeCounte, who is recovering from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident last Sunday, saw his team-high starting streak of 23 end today.

...Sophomore Zamir White had a 75-yard TD run to open the game and finished with 107 yards on seven carries for his second straight 100+yard game. White’s TD run marked the longest since D’Andre Swift went 83 yards against Kentucky in 2018. It marked the first time since 2017, when Georgia scored a TD on its first offensive play. That one came against No. 17 Miss. State and was a 59-yard flea-flicker from Jake Fromm to Terry Godwin. Before today, the last time Georgia scored on its first offensive run play was in 2016, a 55-yarder by Isaiah McKenzie versus Louisiana.

...Sophomore PK Jack Podlesny went 4-for-4 in PATs. Georgia now has made an NCAA record 312 consecutive PATs as the streak includes six kickers dating back to 2014. Junior punter Jake Camarda finished with seven punts for a 43.7 average. Coming in today, Camarda ranked No. 1 nationally in punting (50.4 avg.) and the team was 2nd nationally in Net Punting (47.9). Redshirt sophomore Kearis Jackson had a career-high 56-yard kickoff return in the first quarter to the UF 44, and finished with three overall for 99 yards. Coming in today, Georgia ranked third nationally in kick returns (33.2 avg.).

…Florida’s 38 first-half points were the most by the Gators in the history of the series with the Bulldogs.

…Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Clay Webb traveled for the first time this year.

…Trask’s 474 yards passing was the most for a Gator quarterback in the series.

Georgia resumes SEC play Saturday at Missouri. Kickoff is set for noon on ESPN.