| Florida vs. Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 30, at Jacksonville, Fla.
Georgia blew its first chance to show it could play with the big boys when it lost to
Tennessee. But the Bulldogs can redeem themselves and re-start their quest for the
Southeastern Conference title with a win against the Gators. Both of these teams are quite
young, and the weakest class on each team is the senior class. Georgia really misses its
bookend offensive tackles, Matt Stinchcomb and Chris Terry, who were taken by the time
April’s NFL draft was 34 picks old. Florida had almost its entire defense drafted
into the NFL, and the Gators lost their brilliant defensive coordinator, Bob Stoops, to
Oklahoma.
Quarterbacks — After a tremendous freshman year, Georgia’s
Quincy Carter has been inconsistent while being hit a lot more often with a weaker line in
front of him. Carter, a former high school All-American and pro baseball player, is very
athletic and mobile, can run the option and is a skillful drop-back passer with a big arm.
However, he needs to play within himself, do a better job of scanning the field and making
decisions and learn when to give up on a play. Florida’s Doug Johnson has a strong
arm and can look like an All-American when he gets hot, but he will also get cold and
throw interceptions in bunches. Edge: Georgia.
Running backs — A lot of people are starting to believe that
Jasper Sanks can be the next in a long line of great Georgia backs if he runs hard and
low, finishes his runs and stays hungry. As a freshman last season, he was fat and out of
shape, but now he has slimmed down and was starting to play as he was supposed to,
according to the recruiting reports, until he hurt his shoulder. He came back and played
last week vs. Kentucky. Florida has a fine group of underclassman backs led by Earnest
Graham and Robert Gillespie. Graham is much more powerful, while Gillespie is more of a
scatback type. Like Sanks, Graham is questionable for this game because of injury. Edge:
Even.
Receivers — Florida has a fine group of wide receivers, but when
Travis Taylor was out with a high-ankle sprain vs. Tennessee, the Gators really missed
him. He has All-America potential. Darrell Jackson has been productive. John Capel has
great, great speed but is more of a role player and return man. TE Erron Kinney has great
size and pretty good tools but looks better than he plays. For Georgia, Terrence Edwards,
brother of former Bulldogs RB Robert Edwards, probably makes as many big plays as any
receiver in the country and has great ability, but he drops an alarming number of throws.
He is just a freshman and has an incredible future. Edge: Florida.
Offensive linemen — This is the one area in which Georgia has
fallen off, while Florida’s line has been pretty solid. Edge: Florida.
Defensive linemen — The Bulldogs have two studs in the middle in
juniors Richard Seymour and Marcus Stroud, but Stroud, who was injured two weeks ago, is
still somewhat questionable for this game. Even if he does play, he may not be 100
percent. Georgia really needs a big-time pass rusher to come off the edge. Florida has
that big-time edge rusher in Alex Brown and a very solid group overall, including massive
sophomore Gerard Warren, a coming star at tackle. Edge: Florida.
Linebackers — This is the strongest part of the Bulldogs’
defense. Orantes Grant is considered the leader of the group. Florida’s starting
linebackers from last season were all drafted in the first two rounds of the NFL draft. Edge:
Georgia.
Defensive backs — Georgia lost the best defensive back the SEC
has seen since Dale Carter when Champ Bailey opted to go pro. Now the Bulldogs don’t
have a shut-down corner. Florida is very young, talented and athletic in this area, but at
times the Gators’ defensive backs fail to play the ball and give up big plays.
Despite being only about 5-foot-8, Bennie Alexander is a big-time corner who can cover. Edge:
Florida.
Special teams — Georgia has had way too many breakdowns on kick
and punt coverage, and Florida has a return man who can really exploit that in the speedy
Capel. The Gators’ kicking game has been very shaky. Edge: Even.
Coaching — Losing Stoops really hurt the Gators, but Steve
Spurrier and his staff still badly outcoached Tennessee earlier this season. Georgia also
replaced its defensive coordinator, going from Joe Kines (who is now an assistant head
coach/DE coach) to former Tennessee DB coach Kevin Ramsey. The greatest strength of
Georgia’s staff is recruiting. Edge: Florida.
Prediction: Florida 31, Georgia 17 |
