Georgia Bulldogs embarrassed in 38-20 loss to Florida Gators

The media had this game as a bloodbath with the Georgia Bulldogs rolling Florida Gator heads across the sidelines by the third quarter. Does it ever work out that way in a rivalry game? Not likely. Instead, the Georgia team found themselves in a completely unwanted slugfest by the end of the first half, trailing 14-7 to the Gators, and things never improved on the way to a 38-20 defeat in Jacksonville.

Everyone knew that Will Muschamp was going to pull out all the stops to save his job. He’s a desperate man, and desperate people call desperate plays. The first was a fake field goal in the second quarter that tied the game, 7-7. Georgia looked completely unprepared on offense for the Gators’ intensity defensively. Several times, the Dawgs got stuffed on third down plays, turning the ball back over to a lackluster Florida offense. However, when the UGA punter couldn’t manage more than 40 yards on a punt, the field position battle favored the Gators. That’s what led to their second touchdown of the day on a long return, setting up a short run to the zone.

So with the Dawgs confused, and the Gators talking trash on the way to the locker room, Georgia fans had to gut-check their team. Hutson Mason seemed to still have the handcuffs on in the first half, unwilling or unable to throw the ball down the field. The Gators were stacking the box and daring Mike Bobo to beat them over the top. Something would have to give in the second half. Somebody was going to have to take a risk with their first-year starting QB because of a deficit.

That team was Georgia. Florida came out in their first possession of the second half and scored a touchdown on a long run by Matt Jones. That would make it 21-7 in favor of the Gators. The Dawgs would follow that with a 3-and-out, and the Gators would knock in a short FG. 24-7, Gators. At this point, I basically gave up. Hutson Mason was going to have to save Mark Richt, Mike Bobo and company. There was zero way that was going to happen, as I think the kid is basically an overmatched player who simply hands the ball off to his running backs. And of course, like many things in life, I was right.

Florida’s game play was to run the ball. All the time. Georgia Tech in the triple option doesn’t run the ball as much as Florida did in this game. Their entire game plan rotated around running it to the middle, then bouncing it outside. This happened at least 20 times. Did Georgia find a way to stop it? Of course not, why would Jeremy Pruitt make adjustments? Normal coaches would ignore the spread decoys and stack the box. Not Georgia! Instead, the Bulldogs played it safe and got murdered along the line.

This isn’t the ghosts of Florida games past, or rivalry nonsense, or guys being tight. Florida yelled across the line, “HEY MORONS, WE’RE GOING TO RUN IT RIGHT AT YOU. SACK UP!” And Georgia couldn’t do a thing about it. They got dominated at the point of attack on every single possession in the second half. They should be ashamed of how they played. That aspect had nothing to do with coaching when your players don’t even beat the man in front of them. That’s just smashmouth, I’m-better-than-you football.

As the game wound on, the Gators scored again to make it, 31-7. There’s no coming back from that. Georgia tried. They got a late touchdown and a failed 2-point conversion to make it 31-13, and then, the Dawgs failed to convert a 4th and goal. The Gators scored again to make it 38-13, and add festive shame to the Dawgs horrible sputtering failure.

Let me tell you something, this Georgia team I saw today won’t win the SEC championship. If you believe for a second that this run defense we witnessed can stifle Auburn after watching this game, you’re insane. But, let’s say they do. Let’s say they get by the Tigers by some miracle at home, and Missouri drops another game. Let’s say they get to the game in Atlanta. Do you think they can beat Mississippi State or Alabama or Auburn twice? Maybe they can take Ole Miss on a given day. But after the gutless performance I saw today, I simply don’t believe in this team anymore unless something dramatic changes on defense or in the passing game.

And frankly, it’s the coaches who should shoulder the blame for continually sending Hutson Mason to the post. We know he’s not a good quarterback at this point. We’ve known it since the second game of the year. We also knew that some day, we’d need the QB to be able to save the game when the season was on the line, and I don’t think anybody believed Hutson could do it. We knew this defense was going to be a problem, but it was up to the coaches to get them ready to stop the run at the very least. It was supposed to be the secondary with the issues, not the front line. But guess what? Nothing looked right in this game.

In the end, Georgia loses 38-20 in the most embarrassing loss of the year so far. Florida rushed for 418 yards. Normally, I’d say let that soak in, but don’t do that. You can’t soak in 400+ yards on the ground. That’s like trying to soak in getting hit by a commuter train. Even Alabama in the 2012 SEC championship didn’t put that many rushing yards on the UGA defense, and I think we all remember that it looked like the Dawgs were getting hit repeatedly with dump trucks.

There won’t be a positive thing that you hear about these coaches or this team on Monday. I’d fully expect us to fall out of the top 25 in the next college football committee with two unranked losses. And the Georgia Bulldogs deserve it. They deserve to feel the heat for blowing what should have been an easy victory by simply doing what teams like Missouri and Tennessee were able to do to the Florida stagnant offense. Holding them to less than 14 points.

Now, the Missouri Tigers have taken the lead of the SEC East, and the Georgia Bulldogs are looking for answers. Charlie Brown said it best.

Good grief.