Friday night, I attended the Zac Brown Band concert in Jacksonville. The arena, located across the way from the site of the Florida-Georgia game, was rocking with Gators and Bulldogs alike.
As good as Zac Brown and his fellow musicians were, the Bulldogs were the ones headed back to GA in high spirits.
Despite a triumphant return by John Brantley, the Gators blew a seven-point halftime lead and were outscored 14-3 in the second half.
Florida fans had plenty of reason to cheer early, as Brantley reminded fans why he retained the starting job over uber-talented freshman Jeff Driskel.
The senior signal caller looked poised and in control, leading the Gators to three scoring drives. He picked apart the Georgia defense and threw a 31-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-19 in the first quarter.
Besides Brantley, the return of Jeff Demps to the lineup provided early dividends.
The fastest man in college football showed his world class speed on a blazing 99-yard kick return that put the Gators up 14-3.
However, the offense didn’t do much after that.
The Bulldogs passing game took over as Aaron Murray and the Georgia offense took over in the second half. The Bulldogs simply overpowered the Gators’ small defense, rushing for 185 yards.
With the 24-20 loss, the Gators dropped their fourth straight game for the first time since 1988.
One of the big problems for the Gators has been the poor play of their offensive line. Left tackle Xavier Nixon has regressed since his freshman year. The athletically gifted Nixon has struggled with penalties and has been beaten far too many times in pass protection.
The Gators lack of size up front has also been an issue, particularly in the running game. After running all over the likes of UAB and Kentucky to start the season, the Gators’ vaunted running attack has been shut down by the physical defenses of Alabama, LSU and Georgia.
Speedsters Chris Rainey and Demps combined for a mere 38 yards on 13 carries and did not find the end zone.
With smaller running backs, opening holes is crucial for the ground game, but the Gators simply lack the power, size and discipline to be effective against SEC defenses.
On defense, size is still the issue.
The secondary is terribly undersized as cornerback Cody Riggs stands just 5-foot-9 and safeties Matt Elam and Pop Saunders are 5-foot-10 and 5-foot-8, respectively.
The linebackers, while fast, do not have the strength or bulk to fight off blocks and the defensive line doesn’t excel at two-gapping.
The Gators certainly have a lot of talent up front in Sharrif Floyd, Dominique Easley, Ronald Powell and Jelani Jenkins, but without a consistent pass rush and bad technique, the front-seven is not playing to its potential.
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