UGA Crushes Florida in Jacksonville

Dawgs Down Gators

It was the same song, another verse for the UGA Bulldogs as they faced off against their rivals in Jacksonville once again. UGA once again looked vulnerable as QB Carson Beck underperformed. And yet, with their backs against the wall, the Dawgs pulled it out and continue to stack up wins. Let’s check out the best and worst of this game. 

The Good

RB Nate Frazier found himself with a career high in carries in his first Outdoor Cocktail Party. With Trevor Etienne knocked out of the game and the second and third string running backs injured, Frazier flashed his greatness again.

While he still tried to extend a couple runs outside that resulted in losses, on the whole he was dependable and showed explosive potential again. He finished with 18 carries and 82 yards. We also got to see fellow freshman back Dwight Phillips get his first action of the year, which resulted in a 4 yard touchdown run to seal the game. Phillips is a speedster, but his size projected him as more of a gadget-type player. He barely made the travel roster, but made an impact on the game. 

The linebacker play in this game was solid. CJ Allen had one of his best performances of the year and led the team in tackles. He had a couple of plays that if he doesn’t make, Florida would have had an explosive against the Dawgs. Plus he leapt for a key interception late in the game as well. OLB Chaz Chambliss, despite often drawing hatred from UGA fans, had himself a nice game too, finishing with 2 sacks. He’s managed a key 4th quarter sack in the last 2-3 games.

LB Raylen Wilson continues to improve as the year goes on and freshman LB Chris Cole also keeps earning reps on passing downs. Interestingly, they’re using him in coverage quite a bit as a linebacker. It seems like the LB room was reeling after losing Smael Mondon to a foot injury, but the last couple of games they have settled in nicely. 

CB Daniel Harris absolutely lit up a Gator receiver on a screen pass. Of course, just because it was a big hit the refs called targeted, but thankfully it was correctly overturned. Harris got his most snaps of the year by far. If he can take that next step, having another DB that is serviceable would be a nice bump for UGA. 

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but TE Ben Yurosek is making big strides. He had two catches in the game for 39 yards and his blocking continues to improve as well. To be fair, it couldn’t get any worse from where he started at the beginning of the year. But considering how awful his performances were the first 6-7 games of the year, to see his contribution now is remarkable. He’s far from an all-SEC guy, but he’s serviceable and showing the pass-catching potential he was brought in for. 

WR Arian Smith once again was the go-to target when UGA absolutely needed to put together a drive. He had a key conversion on 3rd down against Texas, and had a big catch late in the game this week as well. While he only had 59 yards on the day, Smith continues to be the dude who UGA leans on to be clutch. And despite his massive inconsistencies, he performs like Carson Beck. He may make some awful plays, but when you need him most, he delivers. 

UGA’s defense did everything you could ask of it. Yes, they gave up one big explosive play for a touchdown, but they held Florida to 228 yards of offense, 3/16 on 3rd downs, and forced 2 turnovers. The defense still looks really strong. Heck, they only gave up 9 pass completions.

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The Bad

UGA beat a Florida team with its 3rd string QB by only 14 points. Yikes. The Dawgs have to do better. 

Punter Bret Thorsen had a poor game by his standards. He had a couple of short punts when UGA needed the field flipped. 

With WR/PR Anthony Evans injured, the Dawgs turned to Safety Malaki Starks on returns. However, because the Dawgs also had safety Dan Jackson suspended, they didn’t want Starks to actually return anything and risk an injury. So UGA had a couple chances to make a play on punt returns, but Starks settled for fair catching it instead. 

RB Trevor Etienne got hurt in this game with a rib injury. It seems likely he’ll play against Ole Miss this week, but also likely that he’ll be fighting through pain, an option he chose not to do against Florida. The first play of the game, Etienne gets hit and driven to the ground. The opposing player rips his mouthguard off of his helmet and stands over him. No UGA linemen defended him, and it seemed like Etienne was a bit shocked. He never had a real chance to recover after that. 

Mykel Williams and Jalon Walker were surprisingly quiet in this game. 

Safety Malaki Starks once again had bad eye discipline and got beat over the top for a long touchdown on the play following a Beck interception. Starks has to improve in this area, especially against a team like Ole Miss. 

The Ugly

Until proven otherwise, QB Carson Beck is broken. He has 11 INTs in his last 4 games, after adding 3 picks in this one. Beck single-handedly kept Florida in the game. While he was hit while throwing his 3rd interception, he was making the same mistake as the first two, trying to throw into a tight window rather than living to play another down.

In fact, most of Beck’s interceptions this year are on first or second down. This tells you he is pressing, trying to force the ball downfield. While last year I dubbed him check-down Carson because he was so conservative, this year he’s so hell-bent on pushing the ball down the field that he’s taking way too many risks with the ball. He’s missing seeing open receivers and at times throwing to them as well. In the first drive, he so quickly hit TE Oscar Delp on a throw that he missed seeing both Lawson Luckie and a receiver breaking wide freaking open in the end zone. In other words, he had 3 options, 2 were easy touchdowns, and he picked option 3. It was still a successful play, but UGA settled for a field goal. 

I know Nate Frazier stepped up, but UGA’s running back room is in shambles right now. Injuries keep stacking up. 

Reaction

The defense is rounding into form, but it may not even matter for the Bulldogs if Carson Beck is going to be this awful. The Dawgs will go as far as he lets them go, but honestly, that’s not very far right now. He is currently a liability. While I think he can turn it around, because we have all seen how good his best is, Beck has been consistently poor this year. The Dawg offense stinks in the first half, and he has a lot to do with it.

At this point, UGA still should win out, but they are vulnerable to just about anyone with as many turnovers as Beck is committing. The Dawgs improve to 7-1, but lookout, these next two games could be frightening if they can’t clean up the mistakes.