Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs reeled in their third straight Cocktail Party victory and regained the top spot in the SEC East standings. More than anything, I would bet the fan base, those inside the program, players and coaches wanted to see the team just play well coming off the four-turnover loss to South Carolina and struggle to truly do anything offensively in the rain against Kentucky – and that’s exactly what they did.
As we will each week this season, we’re going to look at my general observations – this week with our initial, pre-review PFF grades (www.PFF.com) – as well as the big-picture things that will greatly impact the 2019 season.
Third Down
Trent Smallwood in his ‘Four reasons why Georgia beat Florida’ and basically anyone who watched yesterday saw the same thing – Georgia owned third down and it was the primary determinant in the game’s tempo and outcome. After going 13 for 33 (39 percent) on third and fourth down against South Carolina and Kentucky, the Bulldogs were 12 for 18 (66 percent) yesterday. This allowed the offense to sustain drives and dominate play count and time of possession. On the other side, Florida was just four of 12 on third and fourth down.
Now, the success on third down was a total team effort, starting with the protection. On third down specifically, Jake Fromm was pressured on just four of 14 drop-backs. As Dayne Young and I will highlight in Film Don’t Lie this week, Fromm had all day to throw on multiple third downs, especially early in the game. Overall, five of the six linemen who played had a pass block grade at or above 82.4. They were also helped by the backs and tight ends, as the combination of D’Andre Swift, Brian Herrien, Charlie Woerner and Eli Wolf combined to only allow one quarterback hurry on 14 combined pass block snaps. The Bulldogs 88.9 pre-review team pass block grade is their highest in a game this season, and obviously against a much more talented defensive line than they’ve faced this season.
Fromm was excellent on third down, especially on those non-pressured drop-backs. In total, Fromm was 10 of 13 for 119 yards and a touchdown on third down, good for an 85.9 passing grade on those plays and including the game-clinching completion to Eli Wolf.
