Georgia stomps the Gators
By Justin Gray
The Georgia-Florida game is held in Jacksonville, Florida every year with the stadium being filled with half Florida fans and half Georgia fans, this year it was the fans in Red and Black that were the happy ones.
The game started a little slow as both teams punted on their first drive, but it wouldn’t take the Dawgs long to find the end zone on a Daijun Edwards one-yard touchdown run. The Dawg defense forced a quick three and out to get the ball back into the hands of the offense. The Dawgs drove it down quickly and punched it in on a two-yard Kenny McIntosh touchdown run. The Dawgs forced another punt, but it didn’t last long as QB Stetson Bennett threw an interception and gave it right back to the Gators. It didn’t matter because the defense had his back and forced a punt and Bennett then made up for his mishap. He hit Brock Bowers on a 73-yard pass and he ran it into the end zone.
The game slowed down for a while, but Florida did get a field goal to make it 21-3. The Dawgs were able to drive down again and Bennett hit his favorite receiver Ladd McConkey on a seven-yard touchdown pass and that was the end of the half, Dawgs 28 Gators 3.
The Gators came out firing hoping to flip the script and they took it 75 yards on 13 plays and punched it in to cut the lead to 28-10. The first offensive play after the Gators scored, McIntosh fumbled it back into the hands of the Gators. The defense was able to have the offense’s back once again forcing just a field goal. The Dawgs barely got into the drive again before shooting themselves in the foot as Bennett threw his second interception of the day. Florida quickly hit the running back out of the backfield for a 78-yard touchdown and in the blink of an eye it was 28-20.
The Dawgs came back to silence any hope of a comeback and they did that, driving it 6 plays, 78 yards, capping it off with a Daijun Edwards 22-yard touchdown run. On the ensuing offensive drive, McIntosh ran it in from four yards out to go up 42-20 and the Dawgs held it right there to make that the final.
It got close there for a second, but we can chalk that up to checking out too early mentally. Next week, the Dawgs have arguably the biggest game in the history of Sanford Stadium as they host the #2 Tennessee Volunteers.
This game has so many implications. The winner of this game is in the driver’s seat to play for the SEC title and a playoff appearance. The loser of this game could be out of any hope for a playoff appearance because they would need help from everyone else instead of controlling their own destiny. The Dawgs and Vols kick off in Athens, Saturday at 3:30 P.M. You can tune in on CBS on TV to watch the game.