Florida fourth-down gamble aimed to take game out of Gunner Stockton’s hands

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Billy Gonzales was not about to second-guess his fourth-down decision in Florida’s 24-20 loss to Georgia on Saturday.

After all, Gunner Stockton was standing on the opposite sideline, and the Florida interim head coach made clear he wanted to do everything he could to take the game out of the Georgia quarterback’s hands.

The Bulldogs’ defense saw to it the fourth-and-1 gamble at the UGA 18 failed, shifting before the snap to allow Elijah Griffin and Raylen Wilson the penetration needed to stop Jadan Baugh for no gain with Florida up 20-17.

“We had to go for it,” Gonzales insisted. “If you kick a field goal, (and) they go down and score, you’re still down a point, but no second-guessing on the play that was called.”

Indeed, Stockton — just as Gonzales feared when passing up a 35-yard field goal attempt — drove No. 5 Georgia (7-1, 5-1 SEC) down the field for the game-winning score at EverBank Stadium.

Stockton took over on his own 18-yard line with 7:54 left and the Bulldogs trailing 20-17 and needed to make a clutch, third-and-8 conversion throw to Zachariah Branch that went for 18 yards to get the initial first down and keep the driving going against the Gators (3-5, 2-3).

Stockton, 20-of-29 passing for 223 yards with two touchdowns and an interception that glanced off his receiver’s hands, was 3-of-3 passing for 38 yards on the game-winning drive that culminated with Chauncey Bowens’ 36-yard touchdown run with 4:36 remaining.

“He (Stockton) is a good football player, and he had a good game today,” Gonzales said of Stockton.

“But our defense played really good today. They moved around, they challenged him a little bit, got an interception, I’m excited about the way the guys played.”

Georgia outgained Florida 361-281 and had 20 first downs to the Gators’ 16.

Gonzales couldn’t say enough about the Gators’ effort in the wake of Billy Napier’s firing on Oct. 19, as he continuously praised the way the team came together amid the adversity of losing its head coach.

Georgia won for the fifth straight time over Florida — its longest win streak in the series since Vince Dooley’s Bulldogs won six in a row from 1978-1983.

But this time UGA only won by single digits after beating the Gators by double digits in the four previous meetings (34-20, 2024; 43-20, 2023; 42-20, 2022 and 34-7, 2021).

Fact is, Georgia would have won by double digits again had Stockton not stopped and kneeled at the 1-yard line rather than run into the end zone after converting a third-and-1 run from the 5-yard line with 1:48 left.

Had Stockton scored, the Bulldogs would have had to kick off to the Gators and allow time for Florida to possibly score a touchdown, potentially recover an onside kick, and potentially score again to win the game.

Instead, Georgia got a fresh set of downs and was able to kneel twice more and run out the clock as Florida exhausted its timeouts without the opportunity to get possession of the football again.

Gonzales gave Georgia’s coaches credit for their game plan, which limited DJ Lagway to 15-of-24 passing for 166 yards and a touchdown.

“They did a pretty good job on defense, they threw some pressures,” Gonzales said of the Georgia defense, which had five quarterbacks hurries and recorded two tackles for loss.

“They played some two-high, they played some one-high, man coverage, zone coverage behind it, they do a good job.”

Georgia’s offensive game plan also drew praise from the veteran Florida coach.

“Looking at some of the stats, they did a really good job controlling the ball in the first half, keeping the ball,” Gonzales said of Georgia’s advantageous time of possession leading into the 10-10 halftime tie. “But our defense didn’t break.”

Perhaps not, but as Gonzales pointed out, even when offensive coordinator Mike Bobo’s offense didn’t score, it was able to flip the field position. Florida had three straight second-quarter possessions that started inside its own 15-yard line.

“We got the ball with our backs against the wall,” Gonzales said, “but our defense did a great job keeping them out of the end zone.”

True, Georgia’s only first-half touchdown came on its opening possession, when Stockton led the Bulldogs on an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive capped by Dillon Bell’s 8-yard touchdown catch from Stockton.

“We play like this, we’re going to be OK in the next four games,” Gonzales said. “We have to keep pressing, and we have to keep getting better.

“If you take a look from the standpoint of what happened, or what could have happened, it’s great,” Gonzales said of the Gators leading Georgia in the fourth quarter.

“But at the end of the day, we did not win, and that’s all that matters … there are no moral victories, you either win or lose.”