Georgia Dominating Florida Gators at Half, 28-3
The Florida Gators (4-3, 1-3 SEC) are facing off against the reigning national champions and No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs (7-0, 4-0 SEC) in Jacksonville, Fla., this afternoon. The annual matchup, by Florida's standards, is the 100th all-time meeting between the two schools.
After trading early punts, the Bulldogs would begin to find their grooves against a much-maligned Gators defense to this point in the season. Going 66 yards in eight plays, Georgia would exploit the Florida defense with a varying mix of inside rushes and passes to their tight ends — Brock Bowers and Darnell Washington — to set up a one-yard touchdown rush by Daijun Edwards.
Much of the same came on the following possession when Georgia quickly made their way 80 yards downfield for another punch-in touchdown rush, this time by Kenny McIntosh.
Georgia scored one more touchdown in the half on a Stetson Bennett bomb to Bowers, who overcame Amari Burney's smothering coverage to get a hand on the ball as he plucked it out of the air to turn what looked to be an incompletion into a 73-yards touchdown reception.
That score came one drive after Bennett threw an interception on a similar throw down the Georgia sideline as Jadarrius Perkins ripped away the ball from Dominick Blaylock for his first career pick.
On the other side of the ball, Florida began the game with four straight three-and-outs, failing to mount anything offensively.
Florida's first first down gain of the first half came with right at 11:30 remaining in the second quarter, as Anthony Richardson checked down to running back Montrell Johnson for a gain of seven. However, following a crucial overthrow of a streaking Marcus Burke — who likely would've scored — on the next play, Florida stalled yet again.
They forced a three and out on Georgia on the ensuing drive to get the ball back with hopes of sparking a scoring drive.
A 41-yard deep shot down the left sideline for Justin Shorter got Florida across midfield for the first time on the afternoon, giving the Gators enough juice for placekicker Adam Mihalek to connect on a 52-yard field goal. Those hard-fought three points cut Georgia's sizable lead to 18 with 5:35 remaining in the second quarter.
Georgia put the potential nail in the coffin of the contest with a seven-touchdown pass from Bennett to Ladd McConkey with 17 seconds remaining. The Dawgs head into the halftime break with a 28-3 lead.
Bennett ended the first 30 minutes of play completing 55% of his passes for 262 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Richardson went 9-for-15 for 75 yards.
The Gators won the toss to start the game, deferring their possession to the second half. They will receive the second-half kickoff.
Stay tuned to All Gators for continuous coverage of Florida Gators football, basketball and recruiting. Follow along on social media at @AllGatorsOnFN on Twitter and All Gators on FanNation-Sports Illustrated on Facebook.
Get your Gators football, basketball and other sporting events tickets from SI Tickets here.
