ATLANTA - Georgia didn’t just recover from last month’s stunner against Auburn. It walked into a different setting, against a ranked Florida team, and took control from the start.
The No. 3 Bulldogs beat No.
17 Florida 27-8 on Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, turning the annual rivalry game’s Atlanta detour into a one-sided showcase. Georgia forced four turnovers, limited Florida to 54 rushing yards and finished with four sacks while turning its own mistakes from two weeks ago into a much cleaner performance.
“We did what we had to do,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “We avoided turnovers for the most part and we got turnovers.
The Dogs didn't beat the Dogs today. They helped us with some of the turnovers they had.”
Georgia’s defense set the tone and never let Florida settle in. The Bulldogs shut the Gators out through three quarters, the first time Florida has been blanked through that stretch since its 30-3 loss to Oregon State in the 2022 Las Vegas Bowl that .
On offense, Georgia ran for 217 yards and went 4-for-5 in the red zone. Nate Frazier opened the scoring with a one-yard run late in the first quarter, Peyton Woodring added a 28-yard field goal, and Bo Walker punched in another one-yard touchdown before halftime. By then, Chris Cole had already added a back-breaking defensive score, scooping up a fumble and returning it 66 yards to make it 24-0.
Florida’s first half unraveled quickly after coach Jon Sumrall chose Aaron Philo over Tramell Jones Jr., who had thrown for 155 yards and two touchdowns in Florida’s 27-24 upset of Texas on Oct. 17. The move backfired almost immediately.
After Georgia missed a 43-yard field goal on its opening drive, Philo tried to escape pressure on third-and-6 at Florida’s 42 and threw an underhand pass while falling away. Ellis Robinson IV intercepted it. A roughing-the-punter penalty kept Georgia’s next drive alive, and Frazier finished it off for a 7-0 lead with 1:50 left in the first quarter.
The Gators then handed Georgia another chance. Philo’s pass to Eric Singleton Jr. was high, bounced off the receiver’s hands and landed in Demello Jones’ arms. A 15-yard sideline interference penalty pushed the Bulldogs to the Florida 17, and though they settled for a field goal, the lead grew to 10-0.
Jones replaced Philo on Florida’s next series, but the result didn’t change much. The Gators punted again, and Georgia stretched the margin to 17-0 on Walker’s touchdown run with 1:55 left in the half.
Florida’s best chance to get back in it came late in the second quarter, but that possession ended in disaster too. On second-and-5 from the Georgia 37, Evan Pryor missed a block, Quintavius Johnson hit Jones from behind as he was throwing, and the ball came loose. Cole picked it up and raced 66 yards the other way for the touchdown.
“That's football, right?” Smart said.
“If you get sacks, then you get turnovers. Most fumbles occur on sacks.
We got pressure on the quarterback. We affected both quarterbacks.
And I'll tell you, if you can't run the ball, it makes you one-dimensional and then everybody gets to feast and rush the passer.”
Florida finally got on the board with 6:59 left, when Tramell Jones Jr. scored on a two-yard run after a pass interference penalty on fourth-and-goal and then hit Dallas Wilson for a two-point conversion to make it 24-8. But the game had long since slipped away.
The Gators kept making mistakes, too. Aaron Philo and Jones combined for three interceptions, and Florida was penalized eight times for 78 yards. In the third quarter, after Florida reached the Georgia 3-yard line, Jones underthrew Singleton in the end zone and Braylon Conley came down with Georgia’s third interception.
“I think they're a really good football team and I have a lot of respect for them,” Sumrall said. “They didn't need our help tonight, but we gave it to them, too.”
Georgia has now won six straight in the rivalry and is 9-2 against Florida during Smart’s tenure. That’s the Bulldogs’ most dominant run in the series since a six-game stretch from 1978 to 1983.
This year’s matchup was played in Atlanta for the first time because of a $1.4 billion renovation of EverBank Stadium. The series has been in Jacksonville almost every season since 1933, with only 1994 and 1995 breaking that pattern during renovations at the Gator Bowl.
Next season, Florida and Georgia will meet at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa before the game returns to Jacksonville in 2028.
“The venues are great,” Smart said. “They're pro venues, so the Jacksonville venue is incredible.
Apparently, it's going to be even better [and] be one of the best in the world, possibly, with what they're doing to it. This is one of the best in the world, so I love them.
“Yeah, if you tell me I can play in Atlanta every year for travel, we'll get home a lot faster. That's great.
We all know the ramifications that come into that, financially, both ways. If we're going to pay these players, we've got to make some money.”
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Georgias Auburn Loss Suddenly Looks Even More Costly
Auburns upset of No. 1 Georgia looked like one of the seasons biggest results two weeks ago, but the Tigers have since taken hard losses to LSU and Ole Miss, which has changed the way that defeat is being viewed around the SEC. What once felt like a jolt to the national title picture now reads a little differently, with the Bulldogs left to wonder whether a rough afternoon in Auburn was as much about timing and fortune as it was about anything deeper.
For Georgia, the larger issue is what the loss does to the road ahead. The Bulldogs path to the SEC Championship Game and the College Football Playoff is still alive, but it has become less forgiving, and the next stretch matters even more now. Florida looms as a critical test, the kind of game that could shape whether Georgia stays on course or has to fight through a far narrower postseason lane. [Read more 🡒]
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Georgia Now Has A Bigger Concern Than Beating Florida
Georgias win over Florida came with a fresh concern on the defensive side, as cornerback Ellis Robinson IV went down in the third quarter and did not return. Before leaving, he had already made his presence felt with an interception and tackles, a reminder of how important he has become in the secondary as Georgia tries to keep its momentum rolling through the stretch run.
Kirby Smart said Robinsons knee tightened up, and there was no confirmed structural damage at the time of the report, but the bigger issue now is his status going forward. For a defense that leans on depth and versatility in the back end, the uncertainty around Robinsons availability is the kind of development that can linger well beyond a rivalry game. [Read more 🡒]