It’s a beautiful November day in Jacksonville, and that means it’s Cocktail Party time. It’s the most highly anticipated Florida-Georgia game in quite awhile, with SEC, Playoff, and championship hopes on the line. Or more realistically, the winner will get the chance to lose to LSU or Alabama in Atlanta and the loser will get to watch it happen.
Let’s get started.
1Q: 15:00
The Gators start with the ball and Kyle Trask immediately shows off the arm that led him to be the nation’s most highly-rated backup quarterback coming out of high school. He leads Florida on a nice drive but eventually it leads to a 4th-and-inches.
The Gators’ running backs have dominated on this drive so far … so naturally Dan Mullen decides to throw it. The pass gets broken up and Georgia gets a big stop.
Don’t get too cocky Georgia fans, Kirby Smart has plenty of time to make his own horrible decision before this one is over.
4:22
Third-and-Grantham makes an earlier than expected appearance here in Jacksonville. Jake Fromm and the UGA offense convert on a series of increasingly difficult 3rd-down plays. It works well enough to lead the Dawgs inside the red zone, but on 3rd-and-goal, Fromm refuses to push his luck any further and throws it away. Probably a wise decision.
Georgia takes a 3-0 lead.
1:22
Imagine how good Georgia’s defense would be if they realized it’s legal to cover the tight end. Kyle Pitts has been most of the Florida offense this 1st quarter. But it’s still not enough to move the Gators down the field. They end the quarter without points and Georgia fans haven’t booed Jake Fromm yet, so: Advantage, Georgia.
2Q: 12:30
Florida is backed up against its own goal line and the Gators go 3-and-out very quickly. It’s part of Dan Mullen’s new Hurry Up (to the sideline) offense.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s offense continues its 3rd-down dominance and drives the ball deep into Florida territory with the help of Kirby’s most prized recruits yet: the SEC replay officials.
Florida fans are livid, Brad and Gary are confused, and Dan Mullen wants to fight, but the controversial catch stands. Three plays later, the Bulldogs find the end zone on a pass from Fromm and UGA opens up a 2-score lead.
Georgia leads 10-0.
5:15
The Gators need some offense quick, and UGA decides to help them out by reminding them that Kyle Pitts will always be open. UF rips off 2 huge passes in a row and they have their best scoring opportunity of the game. They don’t advance it much further, but at least now Gators fans know it’s possible to score points.
Georgia 10-3.
3:10
The Florida defense has bottled up the Georgia rushing attack, so it’s a perfect time for the Gators to let D’Andre Swift start to dominate. In just a few plays, Swift has Georgia in field goal position and the Gators fans’ disdain toward Todd Grantham inches a little bit higher.
Georgia stretches its lead to 13-3.
3Q: 15:00
Jake Fromm picks up in the 2nd half exactly where he left off, he hits Brian Herrien and Lawrence Cager on a couple of big passes to set UGA up inside the red zone. Unfortunately, Georgia’s red zone offense also picked up where it left off in the 1st half and they have to send Rodrigo Blankenship out for what feels like his 13th field goal of the day.
It’s only his 3rd, but it puts Georgia ahead 16-3.
9:18
At some point, Florida is probably going to have to score a touchdown if it wants to win this game. What they don’t want to do is have a 2nd-and-29, or maybe taking a 19-yard sack is just a part of Dan Mullen’s QB master’s class.
What’s the only thing worse than 2nd-and-29? 2nd-and-34. Shockingly the Gators can’t convert. The touchdown will have to wait.
4:55
Georgia knows another touchdown will put this game away, and they’re going to put it all on the shoulders on D’Andre Swift to carry them there. The Bulldogs drive to midfield and eventually Swift finally breaks off a big one and glides into the end zone to ice the game … except it’s called back for holding. The Gators are still alive.
Remember when we foreshadowed the inevitable crazy Kirby Smart decision? Here we go. Georgia has a 4th down on the edge of Blankenship field goal range. But instead of sending him out, he brings out the offense to try and draw the Gators offsides and get them 5 yards closer. Instead, Georgia jumps and pushes the Dawgs out of field goal range. Blankenship just watches.
1:15
Florida finally finds something on offense that works besides throwing to Kyle Pitts or 2-yard Kyle Trask passes. It’s an RPO slants that the Gators find success with and it works well enough to get them across midfield — a rare sight in Jacksonville today. Even on 4th-and-1, Georgia can’t see the slant route coming and the Gators get the ball deep inside Dawg territory.
Eventually, Trask finds Van Jefferson in the end zone, just barely. And just like that, we’ve got a ballgame. The cocktails are wearing off, the Gators fans are getting loud, and Georgia might be in trouble.
Georgia 16-10.
12:41
The Dawgs have dominated all game, but now Florida can take the lead with just a single touchdown. How will they respond? Once again, the Gators’ defense makes it easy for them. Fromm drops back at midfield with enough time in the pocket to check out other scores around the country and probably chuckle at Georgia Tech losing their homecoming game, and eventually, he finds Cager on a 52-yard strike that puts UGA up 2 scores again. The closest Gator to Cager was in Ponte Vedra.
Georgia 24-10.
7:58
All game long, Kyle Trask and the offense have been unable to lead the long, clock-chewing, defense-breaking drives Mullen loves. So of course with time running out and down by 2 scores, they go on a slow, excruciating, 17-play drive at the pace of a Boston College running back in the open field. But it eventually gets them to the edge of the goal line.
Fourth down. Game on the line. Mullen draws up a wide receiver screen that just barely gets the Gators a 1st down. Trask hurries to the line, finds Freddie Swain in the end zone and it’s a ballgame again.
Georgia 24-17.
2:50
Pressure is on for Georgia, and we all know how teams from Georgia do when that’s the case. How will Kirby manage this? Well, UGA gets called for a delay of game before first down, so that’s not a good sign.
Two plays later it’s 3rd-and-7, momentum all on Florida’s side, everyone in the world waiting for UGA to blow it, but Jake Fromm doesn’t give in. He steps into a big throw and finds a receiver for the big first down. Checkmate.
All Georgia has to do is kneel it 3 times and it’s over, but Kirby knows the UGA program runs on their fans’ anxiety. So they run it 3 times, but Swift doesn’t fumble and the clock runs out.
Kirby embraces his quarterback and screams DON’T DOUBT JAKE FROMM. Apparently he didn’t watch the South Carolina game. But for today, anyway, it’s true.
FINAL: Georgia 24-17.
Houston lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football for Saturday Down South. You can follow him on twitter @hbarber17 or reach out at hbarber17@gmail.com
