Jeff Driskel saw Frankie Hammond Jr. streaking down the sideline and let the ball fly.
However, Driskel’s first-quarter pass landed about 8 yards ahead of the redshirt senior receiver, who had a step on Georgia cornerback Sanders Commings.
“Pretty much every route concept, there’s a deep route and shorter routes built in for pressure,” Driskel said. “They are bringing pressure a lot. There were times when I could have gone to deeper routes, but I chose to take the shorter ones. I missed a deep ball to Frankie. I threw one to him and I didn’t give him a chance. It comes down to giving your receiver a chance, and there was one when I threw it out of bounds.”
The passing game hasn’t been Florida’s strong point this season. Through eight games, the Gators are 118th nationally in passing offense.
No. 8 Florida has won games by holding on to the football and exhausting opponents with downhill running.
On Saturday, the Gators couldn’t do either, and the Bulldogs made them pay.
“In our league, they catch up pretty quick,” coach Will Muschamp said.
Led by three sacks from Jarvis Jones, Georgia brought Driskel down behind the line five times.
“Defenses were bringing pressure and when they bring pressure, it turns into a quick game,” Hammond said. “Just throwing short passes and a couple times they got there before Driskel could get the ball out.”
Wideouts caught only four passes on Saturday, with Quinton Dunbar hauling in three.
Driskel targeted wideouts on 11 of his 27 pass attempts.
Tight end Jordan Reed is Florida’s leading pass catcher this season with 30 receptions for 355 yards.
Hammond leads UF wideouts with 27.5 yards per game, ranking No. 36 in the Southeastern Conference.
Production at the wide receiver position hasn’t been an issue because Florida hasn’t needed to throw the football. And when the Gators do, receptions by Reed, Omarius Hines and Trey Burton account for 51 percent of Driskel’s completions.
Georgia’s pressure forced Driskel to opt for shorter routes.
Running back Mike Gillislee, with two receptions for 40 yards, recorded his second multi-catch game of the season on Saturday.
“When there’s pressure, it’s hard, and we’ve played some great defensive lines,” Driskel said. “A lot of times with longer developing routes, you can’t really step up in the pocket. You can’t move around. We’ve tried to get the ball out faster because of the pressure they’ve been bringing me. We haven’t hit too many deep plays, but we’re going to have to. We’ve been working on it. We took a couple shots. We just didn’t hit him.”
Florida may not have the type of go-to receiver other SEC teams have, but a group of playmakers kept the Florida passing game from being a detriment before Saturday.
Muschamp knows the Gators need to get versatile athletes like Burton and Hines more touches in the passing game.
Florida is last in the SEC in passing plays of 10 or more yards and is tied for 10th with 7.1 yards per attempt.
“You certainly want to be able to stretch the field vertically,” Muschamp said. “We’re counting Trey; he’s a receiver for us. Omarius Hines is a receiver for us. We need to get him more involved in the game. We just need to continue to get more guys with the ball in their hands that can continue to make plays for us.”
Contact Adam Pincus at apincus@alligator.org.
Redshirt senior wideout Frankie Hammond Jr. misses a pass thrown by Jeff Driskel during Florida’s 38-0 win against Kentucky on Sept. 22 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
