Georgia walked out of Jacksonville with a 27-8 win over No. 17 Florida, and on paper it looks like the kind of result that should calm everybody down. Three-score rivalry win, bye week momentum, home stretch underway.
But the box score tells a less comfortable story.
The Bulldogs finished with only 318 yards against a Florida defense that has struggled all season, and a big chunk of Georgia’s damage came from the other side of the ball. The defense forced four turnovers, one of them turning directly into a scoop-and-score, and two more setting up short fields that Georgia cashed in for 10 points.
That left the offense under the microscope, especially the passing game. The run game eventually settled in and helped Georgia control the second half, but Gunner Stockton never really found a rhythm against one of the SEC’s weakest secondaries.
Florida came in ranked 13th in the conference and 121st nationally in passing yards allowed per game at 255.0. The Gators were also 112th in EPA per dropback at 0.23 and 126th in passing success rate at 50.7%. Even with that kind of vulnerability, Stockton managed only 101 passing yards on 13-of-23 passing.
Freshman Craig Dandridge led Georgia’s receivers with 39 yards, and 32 of those came on the Bulldogs’ longest completion of the day.
After the game, Kirby Smart told ESPN’s Holly Rowe that Stockton showed toughness and a willingness to run, but he also made it clear the passing game has to sharpen up.
"We missed some throws," Smart said. "We left some points out there. We gotta get better."
That’s the part Georgia can’t ignore. If the Bulldogs are serious about a national title run, the passing game has to become more reliable than it was against Florida.
The timing matters, too, because the schedule is about to get a lot more demanding. Over the next three weeks, Georgia will see Trinidad Chambliss and Ole Miss, Austin Simmons and Missouri, and LaNorris Sellers and South Carolina.
At least one of those matchups could turn into a game where Georgia has to score more than it did against Florida. That’s where the concern starts to grow.
Stockton has already shown he can put up numbers. He threw for 295 yards and three touchdowns against Vanderbilt, and he made several difficult throws in Georgia’s road win over Alabama.
Still, the Florida performance fits a pattern that should worry the Bulldogs. Even when he’s mostly solid, mistakes can creep in.
The loss to Auburn is the clearest example: Stockton played well for most of that game, but his three turnovers helped the Tigers leave Athens with a win.
The bigger issue is that Georgia still hasn’t had a true receiving threat emerge. Dandridge leads the team with 20 catches for 349 yards.
The tight end room is deep, but none of those players has become a consistent problem for defenses. Lawson Luckie leads that group with 12 receptions for 197 yards and two touchdowns.
Maybe Georgia can keep grinding through the regular season with a patched-together passing attack. The defense has already shown it can smother talented quarterbacks, and the Bulldogs have seen that with Keelon Russell. There’s reason to think that same unit can make life difficult for Chambliss, Simmons and Sellers, too.
Still, Georgia’s ceiling is measured by more than the regular season. The Bulldogs are chasing a national championship, and that path is likely to include explosive offenses. Miami, Notre Dame and LSU can all light up the scoreboard, and Ohio State has the best player in the country, with Jeremiah Smith putting up monster numbers every week.
In Other News...
Mizzou Fans Got One More Reason To Celebrate This Arkansas Win
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Austin Simmons threw two touchdown passes after halftime, Jamal Roberts powered the ground game with 138 rushing yards and two scores, and the Tigers kept building momentum when they needed it most. There was also a welcome sight on the field in Ahmad Hardys return after recovering from a gunshot wound, as the All-American tailback got back into action and added two carries for five yards. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzous Arkansas Win Came With One Lingering Concern
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The concern, though, is the same one that has lingered at times this fall: finishing drives. Missouri left some points on the table with red zone struggles, a flaw that could matter more in tighter games down the stretch. Ahmad Hardy made a limited return after missing time with injury, while Jamal Roberts handled the primary running back role effectively, giving the Tigers a little more clarity in the backfield even as the offense works to clean up the details. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzou Heads To Arkansas With Its Road Woes And Star Back In Focus
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The bigger Missouri storyline, though, is the return of All-American running back Ahmad Hardy, who is set to make his season debut after recovering from a gunshot wound. He will not start, but his presence gives the Tigers another layer of intrigue as they try to steady a road stretch that has been hard to solve and see how quickly their top back can fit back into the mix. [Read more 🡒]