JACKSONVILLE — The scoreboard said Georgia beat Florida, but in many ways the Gators were responsible for their own downfall.
As has been the case all season, UF struggled with penalties and turnovers in Saturday’s 24-20 loss to UGA.
“We’re really beating ourselves right now with these penalties and these foolish turnovers,” junior defensive tackle Omar Hunter said. “That’s something we’ve got to get better at.”
Florida’s two giveaways led to 14 Georgia points, as a pair of fumbles set the Bulldogs up in prime scoring position.
Senior running back Chris Rainey’s second-quarter fumble gave UGA possession at UF’s 25-yard line. The error led to a 20-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Murray to Michael Bennett that cut UF’s lead to 17-10.
In the third quarter, junior wide receiver Frankie Hammond’s fumble gave Georgia the ball at the Florida 18. Four plays later, a 14-yard pass from Murray to Tavarres King tied the game at 17.
“We just had some critical mistakes in critical times,” coach Will Muschamp said.
Although Marcus Roberson’s first-quarter interception ended a streak of 13 quarters without a turnover, the Gators matched their season average with a minus-1 turnover margin.
On the year, Florida has a minus-8 margin which ranks 114th nationally and last in the Southeastern Conference.
UF also continued to burn itself with penalties, a problem that was evident from a holding call on the opening kick. For the game, the Gators recorded 14 fouls for 106 yards.
Their 9.38 penalties per game mark is the most in the nation, and their 70.88 yards per game average in penalties is No. 115 nationally.
Noise was attributed as a factor in those struggles, as Jonotthan Harrison said there were times when he couldn’t hear redshirt senior quarterback John Brantley over the crowd of 84,524.
The Gators committed four false starts and were flagged three times for delay of game.
Muschamp has also, on numerous occasions, cited a lack of discipline as a reason for UF’s penalty struggles this season.
“It could be mixture of those,” Brantley said. “That crowd could have had a factor when we were backed up in our territory. You’re closer to the fans.”
The Gators were also flagged for a pair of fourth-quarter pass interference penalties. The first was on sophomore cornerback Jaylen Watkins and aided the Bulldogs’ game-winning touchdown drive.
Later, a call against Roberson gave Georgia a conversion on third and 4 and allowed the Bulldogs to run out the clock.
UF’s other fouls were the type of undisciplined penalties Muschamp has preached avoiding throughout the season. Florida was called for a pair of 15-yard facemasks, and sophomore Ronald Powell committed a personal foul when blocking on a UGA punt that went out of bounds.
Clearly frustrated after a season of questions about penalties and discipline, Muschamp offered a simple answer Saturday.
“Disappointed with it,” he said.
Only adding to the aggravation were expectations that a bye week would help Florida regroup. Instead, it’s back to the drawing board.
“I thought we were going to correct those in practice,” Hunter said. “We worked on different cadences and things for our defense of getting used to that kind of stuff. … Tonight it just didn’t happen the way we wanted it to.”
Contact Greg Luca at gluca@alligator.org.
Coach Will Muschamp reacts to a pass interference penalty during the second half of Florida’s 24-20 loss to Georgia on Oct. 29, 2011. The Gators have a chance to avenge last year's loss against the Bulldogs on Saturday in Jacksonville.
