Georgia extended its winning streak this season to six in a row following a 0-2 start, with a 24-20 victory over Florida Saturday before 84,525 at EverBank Field in Jacksonville.
“I know it was just a ballgame, but it seemed like a lot more than that. Just to see our players and fans celebrate in this place especially was awesome. I’m very glad to be a part of this today,” said Georgia coach Mark Richt. “Thankfully, we got a couple of turnovers deep in our territory, and both of our touchdown came on fourth down calls. They were very clutch plays. It takes those types of plays to win this ballgame.”
For the first time since 2007, Georgia defeated the Gators dropping UF to 4-4 (2-4 SEC), while the Bulldogs improved to 6-2 (4-1 SEC).
“We had our opportunities in the game. We had two turnovers inside our 25-yard line; gave up 14 points on two critical fourth down plays and a lack of being able to run the football – too many penalties in critical situations,” said Florida coach Will Muschamp.
Georgia junior running back Richard Samuel finished with 58 yards on 17 carries with a TD. His score came in the final period from and gave Georgia the winning edge with 13:18 remaining.
The Bulldogs scored a pair of touchdowns on fourth down plays against the Gators. With a fourth-and-five situation late in the second quarter on the Gators’ 20-yard line, sophomore QB Aaron Murray hit redshirt freshman receiver Michael Bennett for a touchdown to make the score 17-10 Florida.
This is Bennett’s second career touchdown grab. In the third quarter, Murray connected with tight end Orson Charles for a 14-yard score on fourth-and-sixth to tie the game at 17-17
Murray was 15-for-34 for 169 yards and one interception.
“All of our receivers did a great job of going up and making a play when it counted. They went up high in the air and basically wrestled it way from the defenders to make some awesome catches. Those guys were huge for us,” said Murray.
Florida senior Jeff Demps opened the first drive with a 72-yard reception, marking a career-long catch, with his previous best being 61 yards. His longest this season up to that point was a 28-yarder. Demps tallied a career-long kickoff return for a touchdown – the first of his career, finding the end zone on a 99-yard return with 13:16 left in the second quarter.
Gators QB John Brantley completed five passes for 13 or more yards on Florida’s second drive of the game, leading to a sophomore Jordan Reed 31-yard touchdown catch on fourth-and-19 to put the Gators on the board first.
Brantley was 10-for-20 for 226 yards in the first half alone, averaging 22.6 yards per completion and finished the game with 12 completions for 245 yards.
Reed’s 31-yard TD was his first receiving of the season, just the second receiving score of his career. He had a career-high 69 yards receiving on four catches Saturday.
Gators’ sophomore Brad Phillips connected for his first career field goal on a 43-yard success that put UF up, 17-3, with 10:06 remaining in the first half and struck again with a 40-yarder to give Florida a 20-17 lead with just under five minutes remaining in the third quarter.
“Coach told me earlier in the week that I’d be doing kick off. He told me about 10 minutes before the game that I’d be doing field goals because Caleb Sturgis was down, so I just had to step up, pick up the slack, and do what I needed to do,” said Phillps.
The Gators committed 14 penalties for 106 yards; compared to Georgia’s four for 22 yards and the Bulldogs out-gained UF on the ground with 185 rushing yards to UF’s minus19.
“Our defense was fantastic. To start the game, they didn’t have a back in the backfield, so they weren’t really trying to run the ball. Quite frankly, we didn’t have many answers early on. We were able to force a couple of turnovers and took care of business,” said Richt.
Georgia sophomore linebacker Jarvis Jones finished with four sacks for -27 yards and five total tackles. Georgia had six sacks for minus 43 yards. Junior linebacker Mike Gilliard led the Bulldogs with six tackles.
The Gators host Vanderbilt Saturday. While New Mexico State visits the Bulldogs in Athens.
