Georgia Football Winners and Losers from Dominant Defensive Win Over Florida in Atlanta

It may have been in a different venue in a different city, but the result was the same as it has been since 2021 between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Florida Gators. The Dawgs put together a dominant defensive performance en route to a 27-8 win over the Gators, this time in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta in what was called the Invesco QQQ Atlanta Gridiron Classic.

The roof was closed in the Benz, so you could also refer to today’s battle as the World’s Large Indoor Cocktail Party instead of outdoor. Either way, the party happened and the party continued for Georgia as the program grabbed its sixth straight win in this rivalry. Kirby Smart extended his record to 8-2 over Florida and won his first game over first time head coach Jon Sumrall.

There was a lot of good to takeaway from Georgia in this game, but it was a far from perfect viceroy. Let’s pick out the immediate winners and losers for the Dawgs coming out of Atlanta:

Winners

Demello Jones

The junior cornerback made a handful of the biggest plays for the Dawgs on Saturday. He intercepted starting quarterback Aaron Philo on the Gators’ third drive. He was in the right place at the right time as the ball went right through the wide receiver's hands and into his.

He made a great play on the ball in the second half and secured a second interception. The play ended up being called back due to a roughing the passer call on Valdin Sone that Smart clearly did not agree with.

Even with two interceptions, with one not counting, Smart thought there was a better play that he made. Smart said he made the “play of the game” early on when he broke up a deep pass down the sideline in the first half. He said in the postgame press conference that it really set the tone.

Khamari Brooks

True freshman edge rusher Khamari Brooks played a ton against Florida. He has been getting more playing time as the season has gone and Georgia looks for more help on the edge. He received a lot of playing time in the first couple games, but his important snaps have ramped up in SEC play over the last couple of weeks.

He made two big stops in the backfield, tackling Florida star running back Jadan Baugh on both plays.

Georgia has been playing the true freshman trio of Khamari Brooks, Anthony Lonon Jr. and PJ Dean more frequently, and Brooks’ performance on Saturday should only keep that going.

Georgia’s Rushing Defense

The Dawgs went up against one of the best players in college football today in Florida running back Jadan Baugh. They held Baugh to just 38 yards on 17 carries. That comes out to a 2.2 yards per carry clip. Overall, Florida was only able to total 48 rushing yards on the day at just a 1.7 yards per carry rate.

Georgia's rushing defense was elite heading into the Vanderbilt game. Then it allowed more and more yards on the ground in three consecutive games starting with that battle against the Commodores in Athens. Alabama had 161 yards on the ground, and Auburn had over 190 yards on the ground in Athens.

This was a bounce back game for Georgia’s defense front, who shut down a Florida rushing offense that we have seen put up explosive numbers in the ground game earlier this season.

Losers

Talyn Taylor

Talyn Taylor is clearly one of the most important offensive players on this team. He is 100% a starter. He has the most receptions on the season for Georgia.

The game against Florida was not a good one for Georgia’s passing offense, and Taylor had a day he would like to forget. He caught two passes on three targets and totaled just three yards. He fumbled the ball in the red zone on his second reception. Florida recovered, made a huge return and eventually scored its first points of the game on the ensuing possession.

That was Georgia’s only turnover of the game.

Georgia’s Passing Game/Gunner Stockton

We talked about how Taylor was only a part of it. The passing game was just not very good against Florida, and that can certainly be cause for concern considering that the Gators boasted the 15th worst passing defense in the SEC.

Stockton was coming off of his worst game in his Georgia career in the loss to Auburn, where he turned the ball over three times. He didn’t commit a turnover against Florida, but it wasn’t his most efficient or productive day either against a unit you would think Georgia could take advantage of.

He completed just 13-of-23 passes for 101 yards. There were only two explosive passing plays made on the day, and one of them barely met that standard.

He even underthrew the deep ball he connected with Craig Dandridge on for the biggest passing play of the night. That could have been a touchdown if he led the true freshman. London Humphreys was also running wide open down the sideline.

Georgia’s offense and defense haven’t seemed to click in the same game. Smart took note of that. He didn’t think Stockton played poorly, but he knows it can be much better.

“We can be really good if we’re clicking on both sides of the ball, and I don’t think he played poorly tonight,” Smart said.

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