Gators give up 36 straight points after scoring on opening drive
JACKSONVILLE — The Gators got the fast start they needed Saturday against No. 1 Georgia, but the game was all downhill for them after the first possession. It got so bad that Florida’s official X account didn’t even post the halftime score.
After taking an early 7-0 lead, UF trailed 26-7 at the break and gave up 36 straight points en route to a 43-20 loss. The Gators scored a touchdown on their opening drive against Georgia for the first time since 2009.
The offense marched 66 yards in seven plays, with redshirt junior quarterback Graham Mertz completing all five of his pass attempts for 60 yards. The majority of them went to freshman receiver Eugune Wilson III, who made four catches for 62 yards including a 25-yard touchdown on third-and-6.
It marked the eighth opening drive TD under Billy Napier, including the fifth this season and the fourth in the last five games. Napier had been 6-1 when the Gators reach the end zone on their first series.
That record dropped to 6-2 in Jacksonville.
Florida’s offense gained a total of just 3 yards on the next five possessions, including back-to-back three-and-outs. The second series ended with a third-down sack fumble for a 13-yard loss (ball recovered) and then UF failed to convert a fourth-and-1 from its own 34 on the third drive.
On the Gators’ fourth possession, Mertz was sacked on the first two plays and fumbled again on second down. This one was recovered by Georgia at the UF 11-yard line and led to Daijun Edwards’ touchdown run on fourth down to give UGA a 24-7 lead.
On the ensuing series, Mertz was sacked for a fourth time on third down and then the Bulldogs blocked Jeremy Crawshaw’s punt for a safety. After another three-and-out, Mertz hit senior receiver Ricky Pearsall for a 29-yard completion on Florida’s last possession of the half, but the drive stalled at midfield.
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The pass to Pearsall was one of the few times Mertz had time to throw Saturday.
“If you look at that second, third, fourth possession there, we made some mistakes. We got behind the sticks. We had a penalty. We got sacked. Those, in particular,” Napier said. “We felt like we needed to throw it at times in the game. And we did rush the ball effectively at times, in particular, early. I felt we had some good concepts.
“But we got off schedule and then ultimately we lived in second-and-long, third-and-long there, the second, third, fourth, fifth possession of the game. A lot of those are long yardages. When you play that group, you have to stay on schedule so you can have some balance.”
Saturday marked the third consecutive season where the Gators trailed by at least three scores to UGA at the half. They faced a halftime deficit of 28-3 vs. Georgia last season and trailed 24-0 at the break in 2021.
Florida finally answered Georgia’s 36-point scoring run in the fourth quarter with Mertz’s 5-yard touchdown pass to redshirt freshman tight end Hayden Hansen, cutting the deficit to 23 points.
