Georgia vs Florida: Five Takeaways from the Win Over Gators
The Georgia Bulldogs closed as a 6.5 point favorite over the Florida Gators, and Vegas proves once again that they know a little something about football, as the Dawgs cover by the slimmest of margins with a 24-17 victory over the Gators in Jacksonville.
We have five takeaways from the football game:
1.) Tale of Third Downs
This football game was won and lost on third down. Georgia was 12 of 18 on third down. That's almost 19% higher than there season average of 47% conversion on third down.
Florida, on the other hand, was 0 for their first 7 on third down and 2 for 9 for the game. That's considerably lower than their season average of 42% on third downs.
2.) Jake Fromm Breaks the Curse
Coming into this contest Jake Fromm was winless, 0-5, when having to throw the ball at least 30 times. No more. Jake was 20 of 30 for 279 yards and two scores. I have heard people say that this is a misleading stat considering you throw the ball more when you're team is playing from behind.
Georgia has lead in every one of the six games Fromm's thrown 30 or more times, except for Texas in the bowl game last season.
RB. D'Andre Swift breaks to the outside
3.) No Turnovers / Clean Special Teams
This matchup Saturday was about as clean of a college football game as you could possibly play. Neither team had a turnover, neither team had a miscue in special teams, and both teams combined for just 86 penalty yards. Granted, the refs tend to swallow their whistle a bit more during highly anticipated SEC matchups between rivals such as this.
4.) SEC East is Georgia's to lose
8 out of the last 11 SEC East division titles have been won by either Georgia or Florida. So, it's no shocker to either supporting fan bases that the WLOCP essentially decides who gets to go to Atlanta, and for the third consecutive season, it's Georgia's to lose.
Their SEC title hopes can now survive an Auburn loss on the round with Florida now having a second loss in the conference, however, Georgia's national title hopes revolve around running the table for the rest of the season.
5.) James Coley called himself a game
Kirby Smart is 39-11 as a head coach at Georgia, but just 21-11 when his football team rushes for less than 250 yards on the ground. So, for Georgia's offense to have success against Florida with just 119 yards on the ground, that just goes to show the caliber of game James Coley called, and it's something coach Smart talked about after the game:
"Yall need to give coach Coley some credit, cause he called all those plays too."
