My Florida game assessment....

First, this game was a strength vs weakness type game; clearly UGA's defense was better than Florida's offense and Florida's defense was better than our offense. The difference would prove to be who played the worst which was Florida with 6 TO's though granted our defense forced some of them.

1. The stats reveal a defensive struggle between 2 evenly matched teams. Box Score Florida had one more first down than we did, 15, and controlled time of possession by over 6 minutes. Florida had slightly more passing yards and we had more rushing yards which proved to be the part of the winning equation. Gurley proved that he was one of the best backs in the nation with 118 yards rushing on 27 carries. The TO's, were the biggest difference: 2 INT's and 4 fumbles for the Gators and 3 INT's for UGA.

2. The defense won this game by shutting down the Gator rushing attack and by forcing TO's in critical situations. Jarvis Jones had another spectacular game. The Florida defense played great as well allowing only 10 points off 6 TO's but it was just too much to overcome.

3. We won the game in spite of a very poor performance by Murray and our receivers to some extent. Murray was just 12-24 for 150 yards and 3 INT's. Only a spectacular run after the catch by Malcome Mitchell gave UGA the insurance points needed to force Florida into a final drive to try and score their first TD of the game. But over all our offense was not good converting on only 1 of 10 3rd downs and only scoring 10 points off 6 TO's.

4. Mitchell's scoring TD catch deserves it's own bullet point because I feel it sets a potential precedent. This was the first time I have seen a UGA receiver go aggressively to the ball, catch it with his hands and shake and bake one of the best DB's in college football and then run with determination to score since A.J. Green. Well done !!

5. Make no mistake, our OL stepped up in this game. Murray's woes had nothing to do with lack of protection; the OL did their job on most downs. And they gave Gurley just enough room to do his thing and have a good day. Gurley is just a beast and we are lucky to have 3 fine RB's in Gurley, Marshall and Malcome.

6. Our DL and LB's had their best game of the season. I don't think there's any doubt that Shawn Williams calling them out got them fired up; it was about time. We dominated the LOS most of the game but were noticeably tired at the end of the game as Florida was driving for the potential tying score. Again I can't say enough about Jarvis Jones saving the day again with his clutch play. Our secondary played well overall but they could not stop Florida's TE, Jordan Reed.

7. Speaking of TE's, we are sorely missing athletic TE play. We badly need another Orson Charles/Jordan Reed type TE.

8. Our kicking game isn't very special. Marshall Morgan at least made both extra points last night but missed a routine FG that could have been the difference in a low scoring game. Meanwhile, Barber had 5 punts for just 37.2 yard average which is about his avg. for the season. In comparison, Florida's outstanding punter, Christy punted 3 times for a 46.7 yard avg.

9. This undisciplined team had 14 penalties for 132 yards; more than our rushing total. One of the commentators said this was the most penalties by a UGA team in 8 years. IMO the inability to instill discipline in his players is what keeps CMR from making it to the next level as a coach. Between dumb penalties on the field and off field incidents that lead to suspensions/dismissals and poor team morale, this is pretty much the bane of our existence as a team with unrealized potential.

Summary: Considering recent history, any win over Florida is a great win but an upset of the #2 ranked Gators was particularly satisfying. However, I still see significant flaws in our team/coaching and realistically I don't see an upset over the West champ unless these problems are addressed. This assumes of course we can get past a much improved Ole Miss at home and Auburn on the road. Other than lack of discipline, sadly the main problem is Murray's play in big games (which could be argued is also a lack of discipline issue). I love Aaron as a person but he is not an accurate passer when improvising. All 3 INT's were ill-advised throws in which he should have either just tucked the ball and run for whatever he could get or just throw the ball out of bounds. For this reason Bobo needs to drill into Murray to play within his capability and take care of the damn ball.