The Florida Gators Offense Is High Powered. Is That Enough To Defeat Georgia Bulldogs' Defense?
On paper, this should finally be the year. We’ve said that before and put too many chips on the table that Florida would beat Georgia the past two years…
But this should be the year. In Dan Mullen’s third season, the No. 8 Florida Gators and No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs meet yet again in a Top 10 matchup. If the same Gators defense that whooped the Missouri Tigers last Saturday shows up in Jacksonville, the matchup against Stetson Bennet IV and the FBS 57th ranked Georgia offense should favor Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham’s squad. We leave that breakdown to our own Ainslie Lee.
But what of the other side? The 18th ranked Florida offense (476.5 yards per game) versus the 15th ranked Bulldogs defense (300.6 yards per game)?
Of the Top 20 ranked offenses in the country, three are SEC teams: Alabama (3rd), Ole Miss (4th) and the Gators. The Crimson Tide have already played and defeated Georgia, 41-24. In the matchup, Nick Saban’s crew put up 564 total yards.
“They kinda spread the ball around,” explained Gators tight end Kyle Pitts of Alabama’s success against the Dawgs.
“They got the ball in the playmakers’ hands. That helped with Georgia messing up in coverages and that’s when they scored.”
The Tide had seven different playmakers touch the ball versus Georgia with three of them amassing over 150 yards in addition to the quarterback Mac Jones throwing for 417 yards. Jones and company also didn't fold under the tough Georgia defense, but instead kept chipping away through the first half. They chipped and chipped and finally the flood gates opened in the second half, when the Tide outscored the Bulldogs 21-0.
The Gators can replicate that success, primarily because, according to Pitts, the offense has yet to reach its potential.
Ole Miss and Florida are arguably (and statistically) the only other two offenses in the SEC capable of such a performance. And Kyle Pitts says they’re just getting started.
"I wouldn't say we hit our peak yet because we still have some things we need to fix, I don't think anybody is at their best right now. I mean, we have our games where we go out and we do really good, but on the inside, we still need small details, where we leave points on the field.
“Tre [Grimes], Jacob [Copeland], the young guys, they haven't really stepped out yet. So when they do, it's going to be a shocker to everybody.”
Florida has two playmakers that are averaging at least 88 yards per game (Kyle Pitts: 88.8, Kadarius Toney: 95.05) through four games. In three of the Bulldogs five games thus far, Georgia’s defense has allowed a playmaker to accumulate at least 88 yards or more.
Toney in particular has taken the innate talent that’s always made him mesmerizing and channeled it into crisp routes and disciplined play that can take over a game. Offensive Coordinator Brian Johnson is perfectly fine putting that game in his hands and will do so against Georgia if needed.
"For sure. I think it's a fine line between, like I always say, we always have certain stuff where we're trying to force the ball into his hands, but the majority of the time it was predicated on the coverage that we were given and the ball's coming his way. So, I think that's the uniqueness of our offense is that we have the ability with all five skill positions that those guys can make a direct impact with the ball in their hands.
“So, guys kind of made plays all over the field, whether it was Pitts or Kadarius or Cope [Jacob Copeland] had a couple big plays and Grimes had some big plays. So, you know, we have some guys that can do some damage once you get the ball in their hands. But yes, if a guy is going off and you have a matchup, I think the one thing you can do is just try to continue to exploit that until the defense stops it.
“I feel like the game is in our hands,” added receiver Tre Grimes.
“We have to go out there and execute, do what we need to do. It’s not so much their defense is tough as how well we’re going to execute. It all comes down to us. I feel like we’re going to go out there, do what we need to do and come out victorious. If we do everything we need to do we’ll be victorious and at the end of the game we’ll come out with a win.”
Of course, that isn’t to take away from a defense that is still stout.
“The talent level they have front to back,” began Gators Head Coach Dan Mullen on what impressed him about the Georgia defense.
“And I don’t want to say it’s just players, I think [Georgia Head Coach] Kirby [Smart]—they have a great defensive scheme. They have answers to the questions. He knows it inside and out. They do a good job of putting their guys in great position to make plays, and they’re not afraid to tweak. They’re different this year than last year. But he knows his defense has a great system to put players into position to make plays.
"They play hard, and then they have talent at every level of the defense. They can put big guys in the game to stop the run; they can put pass rushers in the game to get pressure; they can cover and play man coverage; they can try to confuse you with looks and a lot of different zones; they mix it up a lot. They’re a very, very good defensive football team and it’s not one thing that makes them a great football team, it’s every layer of it that makes them a really good defensive football team.”
Georgia will be without three defensive starters—Richard LeCounte, Jordan Davis and Julian Rochester—due to varying injuries. But Mullen doesn’t believe that or the familiarity between the two teams will lead to either side brining a wholesale change to their identity.
"We're going to run our offense and they're going to run their defense. We're not coming up and throwing everything out and running a whole new offense that we haven't run. We're going to run our offense this week. And I can't imagine them coming up there and saying, 'Hey, we have this defense that has been one of the top defenses in the country right now and we're going to scrap all of that and start new to try to create it.' So the matchups are the matchups and you're going to try to get some beneficial ones. The guys that played in that game last year that are back are a year older and hopefully a little bit better for us. I'm sure they feel the same about their guys as well.”
In essence for the third year in a row, as Brian Johnson says, “it's definitely gonna be a 15 round heavyweight fight.”
Comments