Georgia Takes Cocktail Party

The Gators were in control of their own destiny, but let it get away against an unlikely foe. Going into Saturday the Gators had only lost twice against the 'Dawgs since 1990. On top of the great winning percentage against Georgia, Urban Meyer had yet to lose against one of the Gators three main rivals (Tennessee, Georgia, Florida State).
Georgia had struggled during the year against its SEC opponents and it looked to be yet another Gator victory on their way to an east title, but there is a reason they play the games.

The Gator offense started and ended the game same way; unstoppable down the field, until a dumb turnover cost them the drive. The first drive ended on a fumble by running back Kestahn Moore, while the final drive ended on a fumbled snap on a bad play call, but the result was the same. The Gators had multiple opportunities to win the game, but the Bulldogs wanted it more.

You could tell that this game was more than a win or a loss for Georgia from the first touchdown. Mark Richt showed that he actually was a classless coach by letting his whole team storm the field after they scored their first touchdown. At first you wonder if the team did it on their own, but at halftime Richt told the media that he told his team if they did not get an excessive celebration penalty by then he would be disappointed; great role model coach. While the classless play seemed to fire up the Gators for a little while, they just seemed to be over matched the entire game. The Gators weaknesses were pretty apparent to most Gator fans and with the extra week to prepare, Mark Richt exploited them.

The Gators offense had done a great Job of making up for the defense, but when the other teams scores on almost every posses ion their is not much for the offense to do. Georgia ran at the Gator defensive tackles, which have been terrible all year, and tore apart the secondary, which has been even worse. The Gators missed Freshman Major Wright in the secondary and at times may have been better off playing with 10 players and leaving Kyle Jackson on the sideline (FreeBagel with the credit). Freshman running back Knowshon Moreno had a career day against the Gators and was definitely the difference maker in the game. He had 188 yards on the ground and whenever the 'Dawgs needed a big play he seemed to supply it for them. If you can't stop the pass, you better stop the run, but the Gators could do neither.

On offense the Gators shot themselves in the foot all day long. From the fumbles by Kestahn Moore to the dropped passes by Cornelius Ingram, it was a group loss on offense. The game plan had obviously been changed with Tebow's injury as he was not the main running threat in the game. Georgia seemed to know the change and pinned their ears back and attacked the quarterback. Tebow was sacked more times in this game than he had the entire year and the Georgia defense seemed to disrupt every trick play the Gators ran. Moore has run his course with this team and will be replaced by Moody next season, but in the meantime the Gators need to bench him and let him wallow in this game. Tebow also missed a wide open Ingram down the middle for what could have been a touchdown. The offense missed opportunities and the defense could not stop anyone. The one thing to take away from this game is that I hope that rivals enjoy the ride, because no one will beat us next year.