Florida's defense looked to be on an upward trend after holding Missouri to 10 points on Halloween night.
Fast forward a week later and that positive momentum collapsed rapidly three minutes into the World's Largest *socially-distant* Outdoor Cocktail Party.
The Gators were outgained 136-3 in that span, falling behind 14-0 after touchdown plays of 75 and 32 yards put the Bulldogs in firm control.
Faced with early adversity, UF fought off any despondency that might’ve lingered on any team faced with a double-digit deficit against a top-five opponent.
"On the sideline, we just kept our heads up and kept playing," cornerback Kaiir Elam said. "The first two touchdowns were off of just busted plays, and we're the type of team that shouldn't be giving up any plays.
“So it was just added motivation to keep going. I'm just happy nobody put their heads down. Everybody was motivated to get back out there and just play the game of football. I'm just proud to see that."
The Bulldogs offense gathered just 141 yards and one touchdown after its first two drives as Florida's defense began to make adjustments.
The play from the defensive line was a big factor and caused issues for both Georgia's rushing attack and signal callers for the rest of the game. After UGA running back Zamir White's 75-yard scamper on the first play of the contest, the Gators held him to just 32 yards on six carries in their 44-28 win.
In the passing game, both Stetson Bennett IV and D'Wan Mathis missed on multiple throws due to repeated pressure. Florida manufactured three sacks and seven hurries — with five of those coming from Zach Carter in the second half — to help secure UF's first win over Georgia since 2016.
“It was just in between the ears," Brenton Cox Jr said when asked about the adjustments they made. "We needed to start fast, and we didn’t. And a lot of games, we have issues with that, holding the offense to a three-and-out first (drive) of the game. Unfortunately, in this game it happened on the very first play. ... We just had to go back to the sideline, get it corrected, come back out and dominate.”
Florida's secondary complemented the defensive line's performance with three key interceptions that helped close out the game in the second half. As an overall unit, UF held the Bulldogs to a deficient 2-of-13 on third-down conversions. A year ago against Georgia, Florida allowed its rival to convert 12-of-18 on third down.
There were a few times Georgia almost made the Gators pay, but dropped passes and overthrown deep balls led to missed opportunities for the Bulldogs. If converted, those plays could've had them in the game late.
Instead, the Gators took advantage and cashed in when they had chances to make plays. Now with back-to-back solid defensive performances to grow from, it's clear that this team can beat almost anyone when both units are playing at a high level.
“Down 14-0, our guys were kind of maybe a little shell-shocked coming out at that point with what was going on,” UF coach Dan Mullen said. “We did a nice job settling down. Nobody panicked. Everyone was kind of like, ‘Whoa.’ But I think once we went down and got that first offensive touchdown, I think the attitude on our sideline changed.
“Everybody kind of remembered, ‘Hey, you know what, we can play pretty good defense, getting 11 guys running to the ball as hard as we can. We can score points.’ I think everybody all of a sudden realized we’re fine, we’re going to be OK in this game. We came back and got hot offensively and guys started making plays.”
