Florida Gators run wild in dominant 38-20 victory over No. 11 Georgia Bulldogs in Jacksonville

By Adam Silverstein
November 1, 2014

With their backs against the wall, the Florida Gators (4-3, 3-3 SEC) came through for their fans, their embattled head coach and each other, ending a three-game losing streak to their long-time rivals, the No. 11 Georgia Bulldogs (6-2, 4-2 SEC), by racking up 418 rushing yards on the way to a dominant 38-20 victory on Saturday afternoon at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida.

Running backs junior Matt Jones and sophomore Kelvin Taylor each registered career-highs on the afternoon. Jones carried the ball 25 times for 192 yards and two touchdowns, and Taylor toted the rock 25 times for 197 yards and two scores of his own.

The duo combined for 50 carries, 389 yards and four touchdown on the afternoon, each setting career-highs for yards in a game while becoming the first pair of Gators to each rush for 120 yards or more in a single contest. Florida as a team gained 418 yards on the ground, the fifth-highest total in program history.

The victory was head coach Will Muschamp‘s first in the UF-UGA rivalry game. He entered the contest 0-7, 0-4 as a Bulldogs player and 0-3 as UF’s coach.


Moving down the field with ease on its second series of the game, Georgia kept its drive alive as quarterback Hutson Mason converted a 3rd and 6 with an 18-yard screen pass to running back Nick Chubb. Four plays later, Chubb broke outside on an inside run and avoided three defenders on his way to a 39-yard touchdown with nine minutes left in the first quarter. Chubb accounted for 94 yards on nine total touches through the first six minutes of the contest.

Florida looked to be in trouble near the end of the opening quarter after freshman QB Treon Harris fumbled the exchange on a read option with junior RB Matt Jones. However, after recovering, the Bulldogs were unable to put points on the board as 39-yard field goal attempt was pushed wide left due to heavy winds.

The Gators capitalized, calling 12 runs as part of a 14-play, 78-yard touchdown scoring drive that ended with some trickeration. After riding Taylor down the field, Florida got backed up 12 yards when Harris fell on a bad snap. Lined up for a 39-yard field goal three plays later, the Gators ran a fake with redshirt senior walk-on wideout Michael McNeely picking up the snap and scampering into the end zone untouched from 21 yards out.

The defense responded by forcing a UGA three-and-out, putting UF’s offense back on the field at its own 36-yard line. A 44-yard run by Taylor moved Florida into Georgia’s red zone, and a 13-yard completion from Harris to junior wide receiver Latroy Pittman got the Gators in scoring position. A two-yard touchdown rush by Taylor ended a five-play, 64-yard drive and gave UF its first lead in the rivalry game since the third quarter in 2011.

Florida did not waste time getting things going in the second half. Taylor gained 27 yards on four-straight carries, and Jones ended a six-play, 73-yard scoring drive with a 44-yard rushing touchdown down the left sideline.

The Gators then forced a Bulldogs three-and-out and responded with a 10-play, 56-yard scoring drive. Florida ran the ball on nine consecutive plays in the series, with big gains of 12 (Harris) and 25 yards (Jones), before redshirt senior kicker Frankie Velez connected on a 21-yard field goal to push UF ahead of UGA 24-7.

On the ensuing possession, Georgia looked poised to regain some momentum as Chubb exploded on a 39-yard run up the middle of the field. However, Florida junior defensive back Brian Poole stripped the ball from Chubb at the end of his run, and senior defensive tackle Darious Cummings fell on top of the loose ball. UF went three-and-out on its possession but was able to flip the field with a punt.

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The Gators took advantage of another failed Bulldogs possession with redshirt senior WR Andre Debose bringing back a punt 38 yards down to Georgia’s 26-yard line. Florida stayed on the ground with Jones carrying the ball four times for 25 yards, scoring with a direct snap from one yard out to put the Gators ahead 31-7 with 13:49 left in the contest.

Faced with a 24-point deficit, the Bulldogs pieced together a second touchdown drive, moving 68 yards in eight plays. Mason completed 3-of-5 passes on the possession, his last to Chubb for a 10-yard touchdown off a tipped ball. UGA failed to convert the two-point try, however, and UF maintained a 31-13 lead with 11 minutes left.

A Florida three-and-out gave Georgia another opportunity to trim its deficit. The Bulldogs marched 68 yards down the field, converting a 3rd and 15 on the way, but got stalled at the Gators’ two-yard line. Mason threw incomplete on second down, fumbled the snap on third down and saw a potential touchdown reception on fourth down broken up by redshirt sophomore DB Marcus Maye.

UF delivered a crushing blow once taking possession, ending a six-play, 98-yard scoring drive with a career-long 65-yard rush for a touchdown by Taylor to put a stamp on the victory. UGA scored a third touchdown as Florida dropped into prevent defense, but it was too little too late.

The victory was the Gators’ first against a ranked opponent since Nov. 24, 2012. Florida had lost six-straight games against top 25 opponents entering Saturday’s contest. It was also the first time UF won a game with fewer than 10 completions since 1977.

20 Comments

  1. Gatoralum88 says:

    That was AWESOME! Rallying behind the coach! I love it when the Gators ruin the season for those…how did that guy put it???…those leg-humping, tick magnet mutts! Go Gators!!!

  2. Ken (CA) says:

    Great win for the team and for Muschamp. Too little too late? In my mind yes, but no point on raining on maybe the biggest win under WM to date considering all that is going on.

    I did find the wildcat on 3rd down before halftime quite confusing and D.J. Durkin really needs to learn how to protect against screen plays. giving up at least one extremely long 3rd down conversion to a long screen gainer every game just seems par for the course nowadays.

    Other than that, the team seemed very tentative the first couple of drives, but then when the running game started working they really gained confidence and rode it to a huge win. Great for the guys to hold it together and rally with all the distractions.

    • G2 says:

      This kind of game begs the question if our qb just distributes the ball ans just manages the game, could we expect these kind of results? Maybe its just the Treon factor, the kid has poise.

      Too little too late but what a great win. Wasn’t looking good in the first quarter with Chubb running wild but the fake field goal turned the momentum back around and downhill from there!

  3. Oldflyer says:

    Champ knows smash mouth

  4. Luke says:

    Yeah boys! 1-2 punch of Jones and Taylor with Treon at the helm! Maybe this is the preview of the next few years with ‘Champ running the show? Nice to see the W and a convincing win. Keep making progress and maybe Muschamp and co stick it out…

  5. DJ Chemist says:

    This weary soul has been rejuvenated

  6. Dave Massey says:

    It was just great to see the team play with so much heart and desire. Get a lead and finish. They played like a good team. IT’S GREAT TO BE A FLORIDA GATOR!!! Party long tonight.

  7. Sam Andreu says:

    TREON! Happy for the players to get a big win. Still not sold on Champ. Silver, remember my post you didn’t publish!!? Haha

  8. SW Fl Joe says:

    Taylor had 197, Jones 192

    • Ken (CA) says:

      just imagine if we had 2 backs run for 200+ in the same game, they were both so close. I am sure that has probably happened at some point before, but I sure can’t remember anytime something like that has happened.

  9. Dpett says:

    No matter what happens throughout the rest of the season. I want to commend Coach Muschamp and the entire football staff for not quitting on us when many of us, myself included had given up on them. They could have easily stopped caring about winning at UF and begun to pursue other options, but they kept at it and gave it their best shot. It wasn’t pretty, but it showed character. I’m not saying that one win changes everything, but you must give credit when it is due.

  10. Michael Jones says:

    Congrats and thanks to Coach Muschamp, his staff and all of the players for a great team win! A good day to be a Florida Gator!! This will be one to remember.

    I just want to enjoy the moment. Don’t really feel like it’s the time or the place to debate all of the other stuff. For the next few days, I just want to bask in this awesome victory!

  11. Oldflyer says:

    Just fascinating to read remarks like “too little too late”.

    Losses to Bama and LSU. Nothing to hang your head over.

    Last week was just one of those nights when everything goes wrong. I remember a couple of years back when SOS’s Cocks had a game like that against the Gators. Everything they touched turned to manure. Don’t recall anyone suggesting the Coach had to go though.

    Would really be nice to see the Gator fans wait and see how it goes the remainder of the year. Most predicted an 8-4 year with the schedule. But, now the negative band wagon has a full head of steam; and no one wants to jump off of a bandwagon once it gets rolling.

    Not to quibble, but I wonder how a Freshman QB who throws 6 passes and completed 3 suddenly became the man of the hour. My men of the hour are the running backs; and the OLINE. The defense was certainly credible against the high scoring Mongrels as well.

    Kudos to the Coaching staff for seeing what they had to do, and doing it; and for keeping the Gators’ heads up despite the negativity swirling around them.

    • Dave Massey says:

      Great comment.

      This was a line of scrimmage game and the Gators flat out whipped em on both sides of the ball. And kudos to Robinson, I saw two plays where he made two different blocks on the same play. Everybody came to play.

    • 305Gator says:

      The freshman QB is not the man of the hour, it is as you say the Rbs and O line. However you fail to give credit to the importance of the freshman QB as the leader and game manager. If the other QB would have started he would have found a way to screw things up and give up funbles and INTs. How do I know this? Because that is what he has done on a consistent basis this year and last year.
      Who knows, the player Muschamp stubbornly refused to play for so long may very well save his stubborn arse after all.
      For that to happen he must allow Roper to open up the playbook and get the passing game going. We cannot win consistently with just 6 attempts. Treon Harris has brought hope to a season that was in a tailspin and he may well save his pig headed coach as well as salvage the rest of the season.
      What a turn of events. Go Gators win out and ruin FSU’s season just like we did to the flea infested mutts.

  12. Sharon Milner says:

    What a fun game to watch. Great relief.

  13. SJ210 says:

    Agree with all of the comments and sentiments here. Great job by Muschamp and staff. I’m very happy for them, esp for Champ. It’s always great to kick the bleep out of Jawja!

  14. jjgator68 says:

    A great, great dominant win. Thank you players for your effort and attitude. Thank you coaching staff for keeping our team pointed on the goal of winning the future games and not dwelling on the past.

  15. Mike The Red says:

    A beautiful win against the Bulldogs. Always a good thing.

    Watching Taylor and Jones tag team UGA was a sight to remember.

    Give Muschamp and Roper credit. We played to our strengths. OL, RB, defense.

  16. mike says:

    GREAT GAME!!! IT’S GREAT TO BE A FLORIDA GATOR!!!!

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