Georgia Football: Stingy Defense Continues to be Driving Force
The Georgia Bulldogs win over the Florida Gators was a great team victory for the Georgia Football Program. In an up and down year for the offense, the Dawgs defense continues to be the team's steady driving force.
The Georgia Bulldogs arguably played their most complete game of the season in the 24-17 win over hated rival Florida. The team rushed for 119 yards, a good number but one that is considerably lower than what the Dawgs typically run for, averaging 222.13 rushing yards per game. Yet the UGA passing game picked up the slack.
Jake Fromm completed 20/30 passes for 279 yards and two touchdowns. That snapped a five-game losing streak for Georgia, in games which Fromm attempts 30 or more passes. The offensive line kept Fromm upright, not allowing a sack to the SEC's sack leading Gators. It was a terrific balanced offensive attack for a Bulldogs unit that had struggled the last two weeks.
The Georgia Bulldogs defensive unit was dominant as per usual, in particular, the ground game. UGA's run defense was impenetrable, allowing a minuscule 21 rushing yards for the entire game. Incredibly this total came on 19 rushing attempts, meaning that Georgia held Florida to a microscopic yards per carry average of 1.1. Even more amazing is the fact that the Bulldogs have yet to allow a score via the ground this season.
Jordan Davis, Tyler Clark, Devonte Wyatt, and Malik Herring were all huge cogs in the Georgia Bulldogs defensive line rotation that did yeoman's work to prevent Florida from opening up holes on the ground. Their work paved the way for several Dawgs to make plays.
HC, Kirby Smart and S Richard LeCounte after the win
Linebacker Monty Rice took full advantage of the dominant defensive line play, to rack up a team-high nine tackles. Richard LeCounte registered six stops from his free safety position. Edge defender Azeez Ojulari added five tackles and combined with Monty Rice to record a tackle for a loss. Ojulari also picked up a sack, his first since Tennessee. Unbelievably the Georgia Bulldogs were able to stuff the Gators' run game while making just one tackle behind the line of scrimmage. It was truly a dominant effort by the Georgia run defense.
Another area in which the Georgia Bulldogs defense dominated was third down. They stymied the Florida Gators on the game's critical down, holding them to just 2/9 third-down conversions. Remarkably UGA denied Florida on their first six third-down conversion attempts.
The Gators did not convert their first third down until they moved the chains via a Pass Interference penalty with 9:51 remaining in the contest. Florida's first earned conversion on a third-down opportunity came with just 7:16 left in the game. Six Georgia Bulldogs players each broke up one pass, many of which took place on third down. The team's only tackle for a loss also came during a third-down run attempt.
Florida did manage two fourth-quarter touchdowns against the vaunted Georgia Bulldogs defense, after being held to three points for the game's first three quarters. Those two touchdowns made the score look closer than the game really was. The truth is the Georgia Bulldogs controlled that game for three and a half quarters, led by the defense. There were very few extremely tense moments for the UGA faithful.
The Dawgs nearly put together a complete game on the defensive end of the field. However they only picked up two sacks on the quarterback, so there is room for improvement in the pass rush department. The only area that the Bulldogs were severely deficient in was forcing turnovers. They failed to force even one against Florida. UGA has a near-miss in that department. J.R. Reed came extensively close to intercepting a pass that would have ended a fourth-quarter threat by the Gators. Had Reed been successful in forcing the turnover it would have taken seven points off of the board and limited Florida to a total of 10 points.
Despite the stellar play by the Georgia Bulldogs defense, there is still work to do and room for development. If the Dawgs can figure out how to generate more pressure and create more takeaways, scoring against the defensive unit will prove nearly impossible. Those improvements would make a trip to Atlanta for the SEC title game inevitable and a spot in the College Football Playoff highly attainable.
