JACKSONVILLE — A heavy coat of makeup can mask even the worst blemishes.
For Florida, that makeup was a perfect record, and on Saturday, all the mascara dripped off.
Prior to its 17-9 loss to Georgia, Florida ranked last in the Southeastern Conference in passing, but it hadn’t mattered
The Gators were second-to-last in the league in penalties. It hadn’t mattered.
They were outgained in the first quarter in each of their first seven games. It hadn’t mattered.
But the superb ball security and strong second-half adjustments that Florida had displayed all season weren’t there against Georgia, so everything mattered.
After every game UF won by grinding it out on the ground and doing little through the air, the prevailing sentiment was the Gators didn’t have to throw the ball but could if they needed to.
Saturday’s loss proved that the back end of that equation was wrong.
Thanks to South Carolina giving the ball away repeatedly last week, it didn’t matter that the Gators were held to a season-low 89 yards rushing. But the Gators couldn’t respond sufficiently through the air when the Bulldogs clamped down even more, limiting Florida to 81 yards on the ground.
“I don’t think we ran the ball well enough,” coach Will Muschamp said. “When you become one-dimensional against really good rushers, you know, Jarvis (Jones) is a really good rusher. We had to chip him and do some things, but you can’t limit yourself in the passing game every single snap in order to chip the guy. When you become one-dimensional, it’s hard. It puts a lot of pressure on [Jeff Driskel].”
The passing problem is a byproduct of the continued first-half offensive struggles. For the eighth straight game, the Gators were outgained in the first quarter, this time by a margin of 88-26. They had been winning because the run game kept breaking out later in games, but that didn’t happen on Saturday.
The slow starts are a problem that won’t go away. The issue didn’t cost Florida when it dominated teams in the second half and wasn’t forced to play from behind. But any team that gets a lead on the Gators late doesn’t fear a comeback via the passing game.
Florida hindered its comeback efforts with 10 costly penalties, which included inexplicably getting caught with 12 men on the field twice.
Although Florida had extended an opponent’s scoring drive with a third- or fourth-down penalty five previous times this season, they all pale in comparison to Dominique Easley’s biggest mistake on Saturday.
Easley sniffed out a third-down screen pass deep in Bulldogs territory in the fourth quarter but was called for defensive holding after wrapping up running back Todd Gurley before the pass arrived.
The Bulldogs would score the game’s final touchdown later in the drive.
The Gators committed six turnovers, and that was the biggest reason for the defeat. But the loss highlights that UF’s other flaws aren’t close to being solved. Florida could have clinched the SEC East even with the turnovers if the underlying issues from its first seven games had been adequately addressed before Saturday.
They weren’t. More problems arose. And because of it, Georgia now has the easier road to Atlanta.
Contact Josh Jurnovoy at jjurnovoy@alligator.org.
