Georgia vs. Florida Football: 10 Things You Need To Know About Georgia

According to Will Muschamp, John Brantley will play against Georgia. Truth or bluff? His first season may lie in the health of the so-called starting quarterback. In the four games prior to Brantley’s exit against Alabama, Florida scored 161 points—since then, 27. 

Is Charlie Weis’ magic with quarterbacks all out? Is the SEC too much for the highly touted Jeff Driskel? Will Chris Rainey surpass 100 yards again in his Florida career? Georgia’s sixth-ranked defense is not the answer to those burning Florida questions. Vanderbilt exposed some holes in their game but Mark Richt has had two weeks to plug them up. 

Their defense may be the backbone of this team but Georgia has a lot more weapons you may not know about. 

This Is a Different Team

The first two games of the season were rough on the Bulldogs. They lost back-to-back games against Boise State and South Carolina and had their defense shredded in the process. They gave up a combined 80 points in those two games and have allowed 63 points in their last five wins.

Their defense has been sound, offense crisp and special teams on point during their winning streak and their schedule shows us no reason they will lose another game this season. With only one ranked team remaining on their schedule in Auburn and a struggling Georgia Tech team in the final week, a 6-0 finish and an appearance in the SEC championship is very feasible. 

They Are Vulnerable in the First Half

Georgia starting nose guard Kwame Geathers and safety Shawn Williams have been suspended by the SEC for the first half against Florida for their actions against Vanderbilt. Geathers was flagged for a personal foul in a scuffle with Vanderbilt’s Logan Stewart (also suspended) and Williams, although penalized twice against the Commodores, was suspended for a non-flagged play. He laid out Vandy wide receiver Jordan Matthews and the hit was ruled a violation by the NCAA. 

Both are starters for the Bulldogs and Florida needs to attack their replacements with long passes and runs up the middle with Rainey, Demps and Burton. They have been in an intense offensive slump and it’s imperative they capitalize on the misfortunes of Georgia in the first half.  

Don’t Mess with Todd Grantham

The postgame “brawl” between Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin rivaled that of the NFL’s altercation between Jim Schwartz and Jim Harbaugh. Frankly, I thought it was better. Harbough later claimed he shook Schwartz’s hand too hard. I guess brute strength is a natural instigator in the NFL postgame handshake. 

Grantham on the other hand is not a head coach and went directly for Vanderbilt’s leader. He was strong, emotional and scary. At one point he seemed as though he’d start to foam from the mouth. That is the kind of aggressive energy Georgia’s players need and I’m sure the locker room saw more stimulating outbursts as the cameras disappeared. 

Todd Grantham against Will Muschamp is a fight I’d pay to see and while I’m sure it won’t happen, Muschamp better watch his back.

The Freshmen Are Coming!

Freshman running back Isaiah Crowell and wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell are big ingredients to the Bulldogs' success this season. They burst onto the scene in Athens and have outdone their preseason hype. Crowell, a major recruit, was to be relied upon heavily after the release of the troublesome Washaun Ealey in the preseason and he has done so with 608 yards and four touchdowns. He averages a solid 4.8 yards per carry, can catch the ball in the flat and blocks for Aaron Murray. 

Malcolm Mitchell, a highly touted cornerback and wide receiver in high school, leads the Bulldogs with 25 receptions for 438 yards. He’s second among the receivers with three touchdowns and has already started five games. He’s battling a hamstring injury that caused him to miss the Vanderbilt game but is expected to be back against Florida. The bye week came at a great time for him.

LSU’s Rueben Randle torched the Florida secondary for 127 yards, which is subject to the long ball. Mitchell is poised to have a big game and Will Muschamp will need to slow him down. 

Mark Richt Is Not on the Hot Seat

The past couple of years, Georgia head coach Mark Richt has become synonymous with the phrase “the hot seat.” This year could’ve been his make-or-break year, especially with their first 0-2 start since 1996, but he has conquered the phrase once again and we will be able to see his famous backflip off the high dive next year.

He recently won his 100^th game and is taking advantage of their weaker schedule. He’s seeing unexpected production out of his younger guys and life from his defensive coordinator. When he returns next season, he’ll have a third-year starting quarterback in Aaron Murray and a sophomore stud in Isaiah Crowell. Look out. 

The Tight Ends

Take your leading wide receiver, add two inches and 60 pounds and what do you get? Orson Charles, starting tight end for the Georgia Bulldogs. He’s got 22 receptions for 299 yards and four touchdowns and added a blocked punt to his list of stats against Vanderbilt last game. 

Georgia had a lot of production to replace on the outside with the departures of the A.J. Green and his complement, Kris Durham, and they’ve found that power at the tight end. Charles has a complement of his own in Marlon Brown, the other tight end. He’s added 161 yards and two touchdowns to Aaron Murray’s arsenal and 121 of those yards came against Vanderbilt. 

With all this unpredicted talent emerging, LSU and Alabama will have a run for their money in the SEC championship.  

The Rest of the Guys

We talked about Malcolm Mitchell. We talked about Orson Charles. We talked about Marlon Brown. Who does that leave us? Tavarres King, Michael Bennett and Aron White. 

King is on pace to top his total of 504 yards from last year and has already surpassed his touchdown total with four this season. Bennett, another freshman, is slowly getting into the mix. He was an integral part in the Vanderbilt game without Malcolm Mitchell on the field. He finished the game with seven receptions for 89 yards and is making Mark Richt’s repertoire very dangerous to opposing secondaries. Aron White, the third tight end, has only five receptions on the year, but one of them was a 35-yard touchdown against Ole Miss. 

Anyone that had doubts of wide receiver production for Georgia this season is feeling the good with all these new stars. 

Aaron Murray

The heart and soul of this team is growing in maturity as the season progresses. Just last week against Vanderbilt, Murray set career highs in attempts (38), completions (22) and yards (326). He’s hanging in the pocket more and the past two weeks, he’s had completions of over 70 yards and completing almost 61 percent of his passes. 

Murray will go up against a Florida team that allows 168.4 passing yards per game, good for 10th in the nation, but has been recently susceptible to the deep ball. If Murray can hang tight in the pocket and check all of his options before rushing any throws, he will have no problem picking apart the Florida secondary, similar to what LSU’s Jarrett Lee was able to do. 

The Kicking Game

Whenever a close rivalry game is on the horizon, you want to be able to count on your prime-time players. Murray, Crowell and Mitchell are all players Mark Richt can count on, but come crunch time, another guy to add onto that list is kicker Blair Walsh.

This season alone he’s topped his career high and completed a 56-yarder against Coastal Carolina and added another one from 50-plus against Vanderbilt. He is second in school history with 365 points scored and became the fourth person in Georgia football history to attempt six field goals in a game.

When you're attempting a lot of field goals, you want to be confident in your kicker and Blair Walsh is a difference-maker on this team. Watch out for him late in the game against Florida. 

De-Fense!

Coaching. Check. Offense. Check. Kicking. Check. What about the defense? 

Georgia has a stellar defense that allows only 273 yards per game, good for sixth in the FBS. More impressive is they allow on average only 4.3 yards per play, also good for sixth in the nation. They have forced 14 turnovers this season and converted them into 34 points. They had three interceptions against Vanderbilt, the most all season and Brandon Boykin tallied the eighth INT of his career in the process.

They allow 20 points per game this season and Florida has scored only 27 points in their last three games. This defense should wreak havoc over a struggling Florida offense and their streak of consecutive games under 20 points could potentially reach four.