Late First-Half Collapse Crushes Gators as No. 1 Georgia Torches Florida 34-7

Courtesy of Chris Spears / GatorBait Media

JACKSONVILLE -- All things relative, Florida couldn't have asked for a much better start against the No. 1-ranked Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon at TIAA Everbank Field in Jacksonville.

The Gators' defense, which has been a whipping post for criticism this season, allowed 156 yards on its opening 29 plays from the line of scrimmage, resulting in three points through 28 minutes of play against the top-ranked team in America.

Meanwhile, Florida's Anthony Richardson-led offense threatened Georgia's elite defense, reaching Bulldog territory on back-to-back drives, but came up empty handed after a missed 51-yard field goal and a turnover on downs.

Nonetheless, if offered to take a three-point deficit into halftime, you can bet the Gators would've made out like bandits.

But instead, Freshman Friday bled into Saturday as the Georgia defense exploited Richardson's inexperience en route to a 34-7 thumping to win the 2021 edition of the rivalry on the river.

When the game clock at the World's Largest Cocktail Party wound down to 3:11 left to play in the first half, that's when Florida's nightmare began.

After Florida sophomore safety Rashaad Torrence II picked off Georgia's Stetson Bennett and gifted the ball back to Richardson and Co. at the UF 2-yard line, Georgia's Nolan Smith picked Richardson's pocket during a QB rush, giving the ball back to the Bulldogs at the UF 11-yard line.

Georgia running back James Cook scored from 11 yards out on the ensuing play to put the Bulldogs on top 10-0 with 2:16 left in the half.

But the snowball evolved into an avalanche as Florida committed back-to-back turnovers via the freshman arm of Richardson.

Richardson tossed an interception to Smith, the junior's second turnover of the game, and the Bennett-led Bulldogs immediately scored with a 36-yard touchdown pass to Kearis Jackson.

Now in a 17-point hole with 1:35 to play in the second quarter, the Gators got six snaps off before Richardson committed his third, final and worst turnover.

Georgia's Nakobe Dean sniffed out Richardson's shallow pass to Malik Davis and made a 50-yard house call to give the Bulldogs a 24-0 half time lead over the Gators.

"Yeah, some critical mistakes right there," Mullen said of the final minutes of the second quarter. "When the defense is playing great, offense's got to respond. We got to score some points early. You know, defense kind of shutting them down early, we got to get some points on the board when our defense is playing great and play team football."

Richardson's first start of his Florida career ended in the third quarter when he left the field with an apparent hand injury. Mullen didn't have an update on Richardson following the game.

The redshirt freshman finished 12-for-20 through the for 82 yards and two interceptions. Richardson also added 26 yards on the ground and a fumble.

Following the game, Mullen wasted no time offering Richardson empathetic-tinged praise, reminding everyone that the green signal caller was thrown into a tough game against the best defense in the country.

"Obviously a tough situation and tough scenario when you're playing a great defense like Georgia has. And give them credit for having some really good defensive guys," Mullen said. "He (Richardson) did some things really well and made a couple of errors as well," Mullen said. "That's stuff we'll coach them up on."

Coming out of the locker room, the game seemed largely out of reach for the Gators.

But there was still one moral victory to be earned.

Coming into Saturday afternoon's tilt, the Gators had avoided getting shutout by an opponent for 417 straight games, a streak that dates back to 1988 and stands as the longest in college football history.

And while the Gators escaped Jacksonville with the streak still intact, it didn't come easy.

In Florida's second drive of the second half, which began following a Georgia fumble, the Gators lined up for a 23-yard chip shot, but Jace Christmann shanked it, making for his second miss of the game.

The Gators' side of the scoreboard didn't light up until Emory Jones led the Florida offense 89 yards down the field on 10 plays. The drive was capped off by a 2-yard rushing touchdown from the legs of Jones with 2:49 left to play in the game.

Florida's offense, albeit its fair share of woes, narrowly out-gained Georgia 355 yards to 354.

Stetson Bennett finished the game 10-for-19 for 161 yards, a touchdown and a pair of interceptions.

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs' elite backfield rushed for 193 yards, with junior Zamir White leading the efforts with 105 yards and a trip to the end zone.

The Gators' defense evened the turnover battle thanks to a pair of interceptions and a recovered fumble from Rashaad Torrence, who was one of the few bright spots for the Gators on Saturday.

"Offensively, we've got to build off of that," Mullen said. "We've got to go then put together a drive to take advantage of the great play defensively."

In addition to the three turnovers, Torrence also tied Trey Dean III with a team-leading eight tackles.

With the World's Largest Cocktail Party behind Florida, the Gators, now 4-4, now look onto South Carolina. The Gators and the Gamecocks will kickoff from Columbia next Saturday at noon.

But in hindsight, the Gamecocks are just one piece of of the puzzle for the Gators.

Though Mullen wouldn't say that the program was at a crossroads, he did offer his thoughts on where the program stands through two-thirds of the 2021 campaign.

"Obviously looking at us right now, we're not where we want to be," Mullen said. "I'm certainly not where we want to be through this point of the season. Our players certainly are not where we want to be at this point in the season.

"I mean, it's a mindset right now that we got to go change and we got to fix. Football's a great team sport -- the ultimate team sport. And as the head coach, the mindset of the team falls on me."