Florida-Georgia Presents Plenty of Intrigue at QB Position
Who will play quarterback on Saturday?
Both teams - the Florida Gators and the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs - don't have an answer for that question quite yet. The teams are heading into the on opposite ends of the spectrum for reasons why there happens to be a controversy, however.
For the Gators, the team will head into the contest with redshirt freshman QB Anthony Richardson as the team's most popular player, and not just because he happens to have been the backup QB throughout the season. Richardson has brought life to the offense at times when there seemed to be some snags throughout the year.
Last week against the LSU Tigers, a game in which Florida would go on to lose 49-42, Richardson brought the team to a close comeback, by tossing three touchdowns en route to four straight touchdowns for the team's offense.
Of course, his efforts would go mostly in vain, but it was eye-opening, especially after starting QB, Emory Jones, struggled to produce throughout the day.
For head coach Dan Mullen, he knows one thing for sure: A QB will play on Saturday for Florida. That was the head coach's answer on a conference call earlier this week. A canned answer as to not give away any secrets as to who will ultimately line up first when Florida gets the ball on offense.
However, regardless of who will play first for Florida, the Gators will certainly play both quarterbacks on Saturday against the Bulldogs. When asked whether or not there will be a change at QB this week, Mullen said on Monday, "not really," and essentially left it at that.
"We're going to keep playing them the same way," said Mullen. "We plan on playing both of the guys like we have."
Both players, Jones and Richardson, are worthy of playing time. While Jones has struggled at times this season, it hasn't all been bad. On the year, he's completed 67.4% of his passes for 1,304 yards, 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions. The interception rate has been the major point of contention thus far for many observers.
Jones has been the team's top rusher, rushing for 494 yards and two touchdowns, though, a dimension the team didn't quite have last season with Kyle Trask.
As for Richardson, he's played well in his given reps, completing 56.8% of his passes for 392 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions. His legs, though, have been the best part of his game, rushing for 384 yards on 28 attempts and three touchdowns.
For the Bulldogs, the team is heading into this week's game with some intrigue at QB. Incumbent starter Stetson Bennett has been the team's lead signal-caller since Week 4 as JT Daniels recovers from an injury. Now, Daniels is ready to play and the Bulldogs will have to make a decision: keep Bennett in or play Daniels now.
Similar to Mullen, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart didn't have much to say about who will be the team's starter this week when asked about it on the conference call earlier this week.
“They both looked good and they are both doing a good job so we’ll go into Wednesday and see how the day goes,” Smart said.
Bennett has done well during his time playing this season, completing 57 out of 82 (69.5%) of his passes for 996 yards, 11 touchdowns and just two interceptions. As for Daniels, he's completed nearly the same number of passes as Bennett in just three games played, completing 54 out of 71 (76.1%) of his passes for 567 yards, five touchdowns and just two interceptions.
Both QBs would elevate the team, ultimately. Neither player will bring the offense down, and both are great options. That's not like the Gators situation where one player is likely going to be better suited to play than the other.
Ultimately, Mullen said, it won't be about who starts the game, rather who finishes the contest.
“Who finishes the game? That'll be a really big deal," Mullen said on Monday. "I talk a lot of players about that. That’s always a key, should be a key stat, too, is how many games you finish, not just how many you start.”
While who finishes the game will tell one tale, don't get it twisted, who starts the game will be what fans on both sides of the aisle will ultimately be watching on Saturday at 3:30 PM ET.
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