Georgia uses defense to best Gators, 24-20
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The SEC East-leading Georgia Bulldogs played like the underdog and, for once in a blue moon, came out on top against the Florida Gators.
Florida managed just one first down in the second half and the Bulldogs’ came back from a 17-3 deficit to edge the Gators 24-20 here at EverBank Field on Saturday. The win was Georgia’s sixth in a row, snapped a three-game losing streak against Florida and was just the fourth in the last 22 years against one of their most bitter rivals.
With the victory, Georgia (6-2, 5-1 SEC) remains in at least a tie for first atop the SEC’s Eastern Division. South Carolina (6-1, 4-1), which holds the tiebreaker due to its 45-42 win in Athens in September, was playing Tennessee in Knoxville late Saturday night.
It was the fourth loss in a row for the Gators (4-4, 2-4), who are in their first year under coach Will Muschamp, a UGA graduate and football letterman. It’s the first time Florida has lost four consecutive games since 1988, when Georgia also handed it loss number four.
After giving up a 72-yard pass play on Florida’s first offensive play of the game, the Bulldogs bowed up to allow just 154 total yards the rest of the way, including 19 yards passing in the second half.
Georgia outside linebacker Jarvis Jones, who was named a Butkus Award finalists just this past week, recorded four of the Bulldogs’ six quarterback sacks in the game. John Brantley, who ended starting for the Gators, was 12-of-33 passing for 245 yards.
The Bulldogs scored two of their three touchdowns on fourth-down passes from quarterback Aaron Murray, one to freshman Michael Bennett and another to junior Tavarres King. Murray was 15-of-34 passing for 169 yards and threw one interception.
Tailback Richard Samuel recorded the other TD on a four-yard run in the fourth quarter and finished with 58 yards rushing in relief of injured starter Isaiah Crowell. The game ended after Samuel’s first-down run to the Gators’ 1-yard line.
Crowell missed most of the second half with a shin contusion but managed to finish with 81 yards on 18 carries.
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216 comments Add your comment
cattle dawg
October 29th, 2011
9:11 pm
SEE what a classy guy atlanta gator is! Him and beast from the east are really good guys!
needums
October 29th, 2011
9:11 pm
MGM I agree UGA could have something special but are a ong ways away from being able to compete with Bama or LSU
Xenophon
October 29th, 2011
9:13 pm
Well, I guess we get Mark Richt for one more year.
hurting in ga
October 29th, 2011
9:14 pm
crowell made a big run for a 1st down on that last drive . samuel played very hard and i am proud of him. why is he on kickoff coverage he coundn’t run me down and iam slow. very proud of the d and the win who are all the recievers.
bitter taste
October 29th, 2011
9:14 pm
and you no those dawg fans are going to be distorying some property tonight
————————————munson—-long live—-brother
Reality Check
October 29th, 2011
9:15 pm
That was like mercy sex. The girl you’ve been hounding for years finally gives up and let’s you score. Then once you’re done you realize it was no fun because she just laid there.
There have been and will be so many posts about special teams and the fact we don’t have a full time coach since Coach Fab that I need not address such a glaring problem here.
DawgVoiceofReason
October 29th, 2011
9:16 pm
As the late, great Jackie Gleason used to say, “How Sweet It Is!!!”. Ugly, ugly win but the end result was awesome. Great plays by Jarvis Jones on D, and Michael Bennet and Tavares King on the touchdown catchesd. Murray made the perfect passes when we absolutely HAD to have them. Defense was LIGHTS OUT after the first half; Gators were completely shut down!!! Coach Richt made some really gutsy calls, going for it on 4th down 3 times and going for the first down to run out the clock. He kept the team together and didn’t panic. Ogletree and S. Willieams made huge plays to cause/recover Fla. fumbles.
Gotta love it!!! Go Dawgs!!!!
Winning is Winning
October 29th, 2011
9:16 pm
Dawgs beat Florida….what else is there to say….now pull for the Vols and beat Auburn Kentucky and Tec
BrizDawg
October 29th, 2011
9:17 pm
How is Samuel? He had to be helped off the field after that final bull-rush – how awesome was he today? As for those teams looking for new coaches, Bobo will make a great head coach! He’s got six consecutive wins, a lot of winning seasons at UGA, produced NFL talents such as Stafford, Moreno, and Green. He’s ready to go, please take him!
JAWJeRDAWG
October 29th, 2011
9:17 pm
Any win against the Gators is a good win; and this one was especially nice.
It wasn’t a ‘pretty’ win, but none-the-less, the Dawgs made the plays they needed to make when they needed to make them, and won!
Sure, there are many areas in which we need to improve; more accurate passing my Murray at times, better focus and accuracy by Walsh, and attention to special teams play are foremost.
Stellar play from especially J Jones and the entire defense, and R Samuel, M Bennett, T King, and C Conley on offense!
Some individual, spectacular play all around on both offense and defense!
Let’s just enjoy this victory and let the Georgia coaches focus on fixing the areas where we are weak. We, and they know where we need improvement, and I’m hopeful we can get better in these weaker areas of play as we move forward.
Hope all that were injured in the game get well quickly. We’ll really need you when we play Auburn.
I am a happy Dawg Fan that we beat the Gators!
Great game! Go Dawgs!
daddydog
October 29th, 2011
9:18 pm
Great day! Anytime UGA beats FLA. Great game defense! Hopefully a milestone for Murray, finally beating a good team & even tho he did not have a great game; he did not make the mistakes to give it away.
J. Jones big time today! Walsh undependable, please open up kicking competition.Samuels way to step up. Were the short punts called, to prevent returns?
Please take a position coach and put him in charge of special teams(other coaches can still assist him). Again, a great day. Even tho don’t see UGA winning SEC, sure would be sweet to win SEC east this year!
Herschel Talker
October 29th, 2011
9:20 pm
We tried our best to give it away, but in the end we came through. Great win.
bitter taste
October 29th, 2011
9:21 pm
how can hudson mason not get any playing time————my god a idiot–(murry)
—-regress—–look at murry in high school on youtube
and look at him today————-now he cant evan hit the down and out
———–how many recievers were wide open—————-richt is blind
———————–pull dumb a$$ murry and replace him with HUDSON MASON
Dawg Fan
October 29th, 2011
9:21 pm
If the Dawgs were better coached they would have won easily.
bitter taste
October 29th, 2011
9:22 pm
DAWGS WIN—–so why do i fill like i just left a ho house and never used a condom?????
aarh
October 29th, 2011
9:23 pm
Joe- Jenkins isn’t a Fr or So. He’s a Jr., bc he was a Jr. College transfer. Stop knocking Crowell people. Samuel did run hard & came through in the end, but Crowell can’t help it if he’s hurt. It happens. As for Al & LSU. I’m really not worried about them right now. I’m just glad we beat FL. A lot of teams have been getting blown out against those 2 teams. So, even if it happens…it’s not that big a deal!
guy
October 29th, 2011
9:24 pm
two average football teams at best!
pdawg
October 29th, 2011
9:24 pm
Man is clemson overrated or their defense just cant figure this triple thing out?
Reality Check
October 29th, 2011
9:25 pm
Dawg Fan except for defense agree with you completely. And the score of our win over South Carolina would have been 42-17.
cattle dawg
October 29th, 2011
9:27 pm
Reality,,,,, you sound like u have first hand experience in hounding a girl into sex.. What a pathetic piece of cow pie! No man has mercy sex. I pray to God you dont have a daughter.
aarh
October 29th, 2011
9:28 pm
bitter taste- His name is Hutson Mason btw!
BobDawg
October 29th, 2011
9:28 pm
Now some of you are seeing how tough it is to run a Pro Style offense. UF can’t seem to leave the spread
Summit Dawg
October 29th, 2011
9:29 pm
Finally, a win against the darn Gators…….But no thanks to BoBo, Murray, Crowell, Blair, or even Richt……..who in the hell finally convinced him to go for it on fourth & whatever, instead of kicking
the ol BooBoo, Richt field goal……see, we scored on forth an whatever! Maybe it’s a good thing Blair is in a slump!!!!! Maybe we could think about running Samuel a lot more, rather than the Whiner from
Columbus!!!!!!????????
Reality Check
October 29th, 2011
9:29 pm
Clemson geared up for triple option and aren’t defending regular ol’ toss sweeps. Tech stilll sucks, though.
bubba4dawgs
October 29th, 2011
9:32 pm
Pheeeeeeeuuuuuuuwwww!!! So glad to have the win! It wasn’t pretty buy still a win. It was probably the worst I’ve seen Murray play and a continued shocker performance by the special teams. Walsh, you keep leaving your kicking leg at home. At least, thank you for kicking the extra points!! Oh, do you practice anymore?? And, Butler, where is your leg? I say these things as it’s still a few more games to go and Auburn and Ga. Tech are waiting for you, not to mention LSU or Alabama…….if you’re lucky enough to get that far! So glad Florida was not the usual Florida you’ve been seeing or it would be the same ole story!! Anyway, keep trying!!!
JB
October 29th, 2011
9:32 pm
Woof! Woof!
HBTD!!!!
Reality Check
October 29th, 2011
9:32 pm
Cattle – it’s obvious where you get your action. Mooooooo……..
Desert Dawg
October 29th, 2011
9:35 pm
Grantham and his Junkyard Dogs are the real deal. Georgia defense rules! Jones make us proud. We DO need a Special Teams coach. We have excellent people on Special Teams, they deserve their own coach.
Rock on, UGA!
Lewis Grizzard
October 29th, 2011
9:36 pm
As I once said about a win over Tech in the 70’s, I feel like I’m mounting the head of a deer I just ran over with my truck.
JAWJeRDAWG
October 29th, 2011
9:37 pm
Sorry to just read that Dallas Lee broke his leg today.
God bless you in a speedy recovery, Dallas.
True Dawg Fan
October 29th, 2011
9:41 pm
Joe, Take the hit Murray took and tell me he’s a pansy. Go Dawgs ! Dawgs learning what GATA means. Real Dawg fans need to QTB’n and get behind the team (coaches and players alike ) if not find another team to B-about. Go Dawgs!
BreakingNews
October 29th, 2011
9:41 pm
Jarvis Jones is a BEAST!
Jacket Fever
October 29th, 2011
9:42 pm
Congrats Dogs on another win over an unranked opponent – turn on your TV right now if you would like to see how to handle a top ten team.
cattle dawg
October 29th, 2011
9:42 pm
Nice try , I know p.o.s. like you. Your pathetic
Nativebird
October 29th, 2011
9:43 pm
Florida is aweful. Muschamp made a big mistake bringing in Weiss.
dbc
October 29th, 2011
9:43 pm
I believe Warren Belin (ex linebackers coach who went to the pros) used to oversee special teams. UGA was a lot better the last few years than this year in that area. CMR certainly looked relieved at the end of the game. If he can get over his stubbornness and hire a first rate OC and a special teams coach, he may just turn this thing around. Hopefully it’s obvious, and if not, McGarity will remind him. Ralph Friedgen would be a nice idea.
JB
October 29th, 2011
9:44 pm
15 million dollar question for McGarity. Do you extend Mark’s contract or just let it keep clipping off.
This team still looks disfunctional.
DawgVoiceofReason
October 29th, 2011
9:44 pm
Bitter,
You live up to your handle. You are one bitter, nasty dude. Man, we just beat Florida and all you’re bringing to the table is negative stuff.
How ’bout them Dawgs!!!!
Chinny
October 29th, 2011
9:44 pm
Hard to believe we won…this is the type of game we always lose to Florida…strange.
beanster
October 29th, 2011
9:45 pm
Way to go Dawgs!!! You all showed resilience and came out with the W!! TAKE THAT GATORS!!! Great win, DAWGS!!!!
JB
October 29th, 2011
9:46 pm
This afternoon blows the myth that we can’t beat Florida with one hand tied behind their back….
Sensei John Kreese
October 29th, 2011
9:46 pm
Is UVA a top ten team?
Seadoggy
October 29th, 2011
9:46 pm
Can anyone tell me what is the rationale for not having a special teams coach? I did not realize that special teams was being handled by Richt and the other coaches until the announcers mentioned it during the game. It has been really obvious in several games this season, including this one, that a full-time special teams coach is sorely needed by the Dogs. For example, on kick-offs and punts, our defenders do not seem to be positioned correctyly and do not maintain their lanes. Consequently, they allow gaping holes to open up for returners.
It seems to me that not having a special teams coach makes a statement to the special teams players that Richt places less value on special teams than on the offense and defence. In addition, doesn’t that reduce the amount of time available for the special teams to practice since the coaches can only work with them when they are not coaching the position players?
Could our not having a full-time special teams coach also be part of why Walsh and Butler seem to have lost their confidence and are having such a rough time this season? It seems very odd to me that two preseason All-Americans are struggling so much on every kick. I would imagine that special teams coaches spend a lot of time coaching their kickers, not only on technique, but also on the mental and psychological aspects of their craft. Perhaps not having a steady full-time coach has allowed Walsh and Butler to slip in terms of their skill sets and mental accuity and toughness.
Anyway, it is totally obvious that not having a full-time special teams coach is hurting the team. If it weren’t for poor special teams play, we would have won the South Carolina game and would be 6-0 to South Carolina’s 3-2 going into the Tennessee game and would have the tie-breaker with South Carolina. We definitely would have the inside track to Atlanta.
ChiliDawg
October 29th, 2011
9:46 pm
Not really impress in some respects (kicking and special teams), but thank heavens we won!
Coffee Bluff DAWG
October 29th, 2011
9:47 pm
Great win for the DAWGS and a great effort by the D and Jarvis Jones. DEF leads the way. Brantley is a gamer for Gators but no chance w/o a running game.
7576DAWG
October 29th, 2011
9:47 pm
As many times as I have said that Bobo is over his head as coordinator and I will continue to think that way the offense played a good game today and Grantham should be locked into an extension tonight but something has to be done about the special teams play. This can not continue. Surely with all the experience that our coaches have and people they know in coaching , for example our friends with the Atlanta Falcons SOMETHING CAN BE DONE.
True Dawg Fan
October 29th, 2011
9:47 pm
Jacket Fever, you must have one (a fever) since you are talking out of your head. The fools gold in Atlanta has just blinded the Tigers. Go Dawgs!
beanster
October 29th, 2011
9:47 pm
It’s spelled dYsfunctional, JB. When you get a brain, we will give a care about your opinion. GO DAWGS!!!!!!
JB
October 29th, 2011
9:48 pm
Muschamp back at DC somewhere in 3 years….About 12 million dollars richer though.
Jonas Grumby
October 29th, 2011
9:48 pm
Florida’s offensive stats vs. Alabama — without Brantley in the 2nd half — compared to vs. Georgia: 1st downs, 9/11; rushing 15/-19; passing 207/245; total 222/226; plays 52/56; yard per play 4.3/4.0; offensive points 10-13.