No. 14 Florida (6-1, 4-1 SEC) remains in control of its destiny in the SEC East hunt, thanks to a 24-10 victory over Georgia (4-4, 2-4 SEC) on Saturday in front of 84,681 fans in attendance at EverBank Field in Jacksonville. The Gators have now won three consecutive meetings against the Bulldogs, following a three-game losing streak to UGA from 2011-13, and head into November on a three-game winning streak.
Instant Analysis now further examines the Gators' victory.
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* Live Updates: Jim McElwain's postgame press conference following win over Georgia
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IT WAS OVER WHEN: Georgia couldn't get much going offensively in the second half - and after Florida took its 21-10 lead on a 10-play, 56-yard touchdown drive, the Gators secondary made a number of key stops down the stretch. Nickelback Duke Dawson came up big late in the game, with a pass breakup on 3rd and 5 to force a UGA punt and then another PBU on the next drive on 4th and 2 as Georgia's drive stalled at its own 48.
Florida later wasted out 5:33 of clock on its ensuing drive, capping it off with a 38-yard field goal by Eddy Pineiro to lift the Gators to a 24-10 lead with 4:24 left in the ball game. By that point, the game was seemingly out of reach for the Bulldogs.
THEY STOLE THE SHOW: On offense, three of its starters in running back Jordan Scarlett, wide receiver Antonio Callaway and tight end C'yontai Lewis produced for the Gators on Saturday. Scarlett led the way with 93 yards and a touchdown on the ground on 26 carries, while Callaway caught four balls for 42 yards to go along with a rushing touchdown on a jet sweep. Lewis chipped in two catches for 36 yards and a score for one of his best games as a Gator.
On defense, aside from Georgia's lone touchdown drive of the contest, really the whole group played quite well. Redshirt freshman defensive end Jabari Zuniga had a strong performance in particular, racking up four quarterback hurries and two TFL. Playing despite suffering a badly sprained ankle in the Missouri contest two weeks ago, linebacker Jarrad Davis had an impressive outing as well, with a team-best seven tackles, 2.5 TFL and a quarterback hurry. Dawson also deserves a nod, coming up with a number of key plays down the stretch.
THESE STATS DON'T LIE: Florida out-gained Georgia 231-164 on Saturday, as both teams failed to eclipse the 200-yard mark by the end of the third quarter. The Gators held Georgia's running back trio to just 26 yards and no touchdowns on 14 carries. UGA went just 4-of-14 on third down, with both squads combining for 13-of-32 in that category.
Meanwhile, Gators quarterback Luke Del Rio finished with 131 yards and a touchdown against an interception on 15-of-25 passing. Bulldogs signal-caller Jacob Eason didn't fare much better, with just 143 yards and a touchdown on 15-of-33 passing. Eason started the game 6-of-8 passing but went 9-of-25 the rest of the way.
WHAT A PLAY: On Florida's third touchdown drive of the game, it drew up one of its best offensive play calls of the afternoon. With Del Rio taking the snap from under center, the Gators faked the handoff to Scarlett and instead ran a jet sweep for Callaway. A strong block on the outside by tight end C'yontai Lewis left Callaway with the clear lane for the score as Florida took a 21-10 lead with 3:11 left in the third. Callaway is now the first Gator to account for a touchdown in five different way: passing, rushing, receiving, kickoff return and punt return.
Meanwhile, Lewis made two impressive grabs in the first quarter on Florida's first scoring drive of the contest. On his first, Lewis extended to haul in a 17-yard catch, as the refs overturned the call on the field and determined that Lewis got his heel in-bounds. Three plays later, Del Rio connected with Lewis, who shed a tackle from a UGA defender to take it in for a 19-yard score and the 7-0 lead for Florida.
THIS MATCH-UP PROVED KEY: The Florida defense - its front seven, in particular - gave Eason and the Georgia offense plenty of trouble Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs three-headed rushing attack of Nick Chubb, Sony Michel and Brian Herrien was silenced, and the Gators consistently got after it in the pass rush. Florida took advantage of leaky pass protection by UGA, racking up 16 quarterback hurries thanks to disruptive play from its front seven and a number of blitz packages dialed up by defensive coordinator Geoff Collins. UF's two sacks came on blitz calls for cornerback Jalen "Teez" Tabor and safety Nick Washington.
UP NEXT: Florida travels to Fayetteville to square off against Arkansas (5-3, 1-3 SEC), which will be fresh off of a bye week, next Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET in a matchup that'll air once again on CBS. The Razorbacks are coming off of a 56-3 loss to Auburn last weekend.
Stay tuned with ITG, as we provide more post-game coverage of Florida's victory against Georgia.
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