Florida’s Offense Dug the Hole on First Down, Then Kept Digging

Photo: GatorBait Media

ATLANTA — The postgame conversation about Florida’s 27-8 loss to Georgia on Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium has centered on turnovers and flags. The down-and-distance sheet adds a less dramatic cause: Florida’s offense kept losing the argument on first down, then spent the rest of every series trying to climb out.

First down went nowhere

According to ESPN’s play-by-play, Florida ran 25 first-down snaps and averaged 3.0 yards on them, sacks included. Eleven of the 25 (44 percent) gained nothing or lost ground. That group included five losses, three incompletions, two runs that went nowhere and an interception. Georgia ran 28 first-down snaps, averaged 5.8 and went backward or stood still just four times (14 percent).

The ground game made the gap wider. Georgia’s 19 first-down runs, quarterback keepers included, averaged 6.6 yards. Florida’s 12 averaged 1.9. Jadan Baugh finished with 17 carries, and five of them lost yardage. Georgia gained at least four yards on 16 of its 28 first downs. Florida did it on 10 of 25. That gap is the whole afternoon in miniature.

Second-and-long was the toll

A bad first down has a price, and Florida paid it on second down. The Gators faced an average of 8.5 yards to go on second down. Georgia faced just under six. Thirteen of Florida’s 20 second-down snaps needed seven yards or more, and 11 of those 13 followed a first-down gain of two yards or fewer. Georgia saw second-and-7 or longer nine times in 20. Per snap, second down was close to a wash, 3.1 yards for Florida and 3.5 for Georgia. The tasks were not close.

Third down is where the bill came due, and the ledger is more interesting than the totals. Georgia converted 6 of 15 third downs and Florida converted 4 of 12, close to the same rate (40 percent to 33 percent). The difference was the distance. Nine of Georgia’s 15 third downs were third-and-3 or shorter, and all six of its conversions came there. Florida faced one third-and-short all game, a third-and-2 in the third quarter that Baugh lost 2 yards on.

When Florida got a manageable down, it moved the chains. The Gators converted three of four third-and-6-through-8 situations. When the sheet read third-and-9 or longer, they were 1 for 7, and those seven situations averaged 12.7 yards to go. Georgia went 0 for 6 on third-and-4 or longer, so Florida’s defense held up on the hard downs. It just rarely had to play them.

Florida’s four conversions were all gains of 10 or more: 10 yards on third-and-6 twice, 14 on third-and-8 and 17 on third-and-9. They came two in the second quarter and two in the third. The Gators were 0 for 2 in the first quarter and 0 for 3 in the fourth.

Eleven negative plays

Florida did a lot of the digging itself. ESPN credits Georgia with 11 tackles for loss, four of them sacks, and Khamari Brooks led the way with two. Florida’s defense had four. Nine of the Gators’ 11 negative plays came on first or second down.

The costliest came in the fourth quarter. A sack-fumble that Baugh recovered cost 10 yards and turned second-and-10 into third-and-20. Tramell Jones Jr. hit Bailey Stockton for 11 on third down, and Florida still needed a 23-yard completion to Luke Harpring on fourth-and-9 to keep the drive alive. Earlier, in the first quarter, a 3-yard loss on a completion to Eric Singleton Jr. and a 3-yard loss on a Baugh run turned first-and-10 into third-and-16.

Florida’s only touchdown came on a drive that needed that fourth-and-9 throw and a Georgia pass interference flag on fourth-and-goal, not on a third-down conversion. That is the hard road, and it is the only one the offense found.

What it means for the offense

The fix sounds simple, which makes it harder to excuse. Nobody has to invent anything new. Sumrall said the staff knew the assignment: “we knew coming into this game we needed to stay ahead of the chains and give ourselves an opportunity.” The first-down numbers say Florida never found its way ahead of them.

Sumrall pointed to more than the line. “We had receivers misaligned today, not run the right route, or run the wrong route a handful of times,” he said. He also said: “I didn’t think we played up front good enough, though, on the offensive line to help them.” Both problems show up first on first down, where a four-yard gain turns a series into a menu instead of a math problem.

That matters for the quarterback discussion, too. Sumrall said he did not think it was fair to fully evaluate either Aaron Philo or Jones because “I don’t think there was enough help around them.” The chain data lines up with that. A quarterback who sees second-and-8.5 and third-and-9.75 on average has little room to work, however clean his day. The first-down fix belongs to everybody: protection, route running and a ground game that has to give more than 1.9 yards a carry on first down.

Florida (5-3, 3-3 SEC) gets its next chance to prove it can start series cleanly against Oklahoma on Nov. 7 at 7:45 p.m. ET on SEC Network. The Gators do not need a trick play to stay ahead of the chains. They need first downs that gain four yards, and Georgia showed on Saturday what that looks like.