GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- No. 6 Florida and No. 8 Georgia are set to renew their heated rivalry this weekend. In the last 13 games between these two sides, the team with the most rushing yards has secured the win. On Saturday, it' safe to say stopping the Bulldogs' rushing attack will be the Gator's top priority.
Georgia's offense boasts one of the best rushing attacks in the country. UGA averages 236.9 yards per game, which is good enough for 17th in the country.
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“They first of all have a very physical offensive line," defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said about the UGA offense. "And they’re really got a good stable of running backs that can find a scheme.
"Those guys can pick gaps and seams and take a small hole and accelerate through it and make it a double-digit gain. But it starts with their offensive line being physical," added Grantham. "Their team, they do a good job of blocking. Their wideouts do a good job of blocking. It’s really a team effort for them to be successful running the ball and they’ve done a good job with it.”
It also doesn't hurt that Georgia has an elite running back on its roster.
“Everything revolves around [D'Andre] Swift," said pass rusher Jon Greenard. "He’s a dynamic player, one of the best in the country behind (Lamical) Perine."
Greenard may have Swift behind his teammate, as one expects, but Dan Mullen understands what type of threat Swift is, calling him "one of the best backs, if not the top back in college football right now."
"You gotta get a bunch of guys to the ball," said the Gators head coach.
The junior leads the way on the ground for the Bulldogs, amassing 752 yards and seven touchdowns on 110 carries, averaging 6.8 yards per carry.
"They’re going to keep feeding him," said Greenard. "They’re going to find a way to get him the ball and get some other playmakers involved. Everything goes through him."
Swift earned SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors last week after carrying the ball 21 times for 179 yards in the win over Kentucky. He now has seven career games with at least 100 yards rushing.
"He’s got breakaway speed, power, can make you miss in the open field," Mullen explained. "To sit there and say, hey we’re one on one and you got to tackle him, you got to get a couple guys to the party there and go tackle him. He does a great job that way."
"He can run through tackles. You’ve got to make sure your bring your pads and bring your feet, and you’ve got to take the air out of the hole, you’ve got to shrink it and give him less room to run because he’s a guy that can make the first guy miss," said Grantham. " He can put his foot in the ground and change direction. He’ll run where you’re not. Playing defense against a guy like that it really gets down to team defense and making sure that we set the edge, build a wall and compress the running lanes to where he doesn’t have as much space to run the ball.”
"If you leave him one on one he’s got the ability to make you miss," added Mullen. "You got to do a great job of getting guys running to the football.”
"We just gotta rally to the ball, tackle, put all 11 hats on him, make him feel us, make him feel uncomfortable," said Greenard. "It’s going to be a tough one. He’s not going to give in easy. We’re not going to give in easy. It’s going to be a fun one.”
Swift, like Perine, is also a threat in the air, where Swift has 13 receptions for 148 yards and a score.
“He’s a guy that they try to get the ball out of the backfield," said Grantham. "Anytime you have a guy that has his kind of speed and athletic ability, if he can catch just a simple option route in the flat, he can make a guy miss and turn it into a double digit gain. So, obviously, we’ve got to be aware of that and account for that. Be ready to play a good team.”
Team is an accurate descriptor.
Although Swift receives much of the headlines, and rightfully so, Georgia's run game is not just about Swift. The Bulldogs have a room full of talented backs that can produce, including Brian Herrien.
"Herrien, I played him in high school. I’ve seen him, played against him. Very physical runner when he wants to be," said Greenard. "A lot of people don’t give him credit for. He’s an athlete, as well. Both of them can make some plays. Obviously Swift being dynamic…but 35, you can’t take the load off when he gets in the game, because he’s still going to try to get the same goal as Swift did.”
Georgia missed Herrien in the loss to South Carolina.
The running back, who missed the game against the Gamecocks after straining his back during warm ups, is a good complement to Swift. He is an insider runner that is not afraid of contact - he is second on the team with 311 yards on 53 carries, averaging 5.9 yards per carry.
Meanwhile, the Gators have struggled against the run recently.
Florida has yielded an average of 146.8 yards per game, 186.3 yards in the last three games, and 217 yards in their last game against South Carolina.
The good news for Florida is that both Jon Greenard and Jabari Zuniga are expected to feature in the game, according to Mullen on Monday. Both pass rushers have missed the last two games for the Gators. Their return could not come at a better time, since a lot of Georgia's success on the ground comes behind a starting offensive line that averages 6-foot-5, 328 pounds.
"Yeah, they're massive," said Greenard. "If you look at the film, there's no way around it, there's nothing bad you can say about Georgia's o-line."
"It's gonna be a really good matchup."
We hear it all the time: you need to stop the run to win. But with Georgia going 0-5 when Jake Fromm throws it 30 times or more, things really are brought into perspective.
”We understand the importance, we understand what's at stake - that's why you come to Florida, to play in games like this," said Grantham. "But to win this game we have to just do our job."
"Just come out there play physical. We know what they want to do," said Greenard. "They want to run the ball, impose their will, use their big, physical O-linemen, which they do very well. But we just gotta break it. I like our chances. I like my boys. I know they like their boys, but I like my boys against anybody. Just tune in.
