Florida finally needed Jeff Driskel to carry the offensive load on Saturday, but the sophomore signal caller was not up to the task
As Georgia crowded the line of scrimmage in an attempt to slow Mike Gillislee and Florida’s vaunted running attack, the weight of the offense fell on Driskel’s throwing arm.
He responded by turning the ball over four times in No. 3 Florida’s 17-9 loss to No. 12 Georgia.
“I made some critical mistakes,” Driskel said. “That’s what it comes down to. … When you make that many errors — put the ball on the ground and throw interceptions — it’s hard to win games.”
Driskel completed 14 of 26 passes for 185 yards with two interceptions. He also took five sacks, resulting in a pair of fumbles.
“They made us make plays in the passing game, and we didn’t make as many as we would like to,” Driskel said.
His 26 pass attempts were one shy of a career-high, as he was forced to try to compensate for an offense that tallied a season-worst 81 rushing yards on 41 carries.
Coach Will Muschamp attributed Driskel’s struggles to Florida’s inability to get anything going on the ground.
“We’ve got to play better around him,” Muschamp said. “We’ve got to protect better; we’ve got to create vertical plays; you have to find ways to run the ball. You can’t put everything on Jeff Driskel.”
Florida had committed only four turnovers all season entering Saturday’s game, when they made six. Driskel had thrown only one interception.
The Gators were unable protect Driskel from Georgia linebacker Jarvis Jones, who finished with three sacks.
The sophomore signal caller was hit as he threw on at least four pass attempts, including Florida’s third offensive play, when the ball was knocked out of his hand midway through his passing motion.
Georgia’s Damian Swann hit Driskel off the edge and sent the ball floating towards the line of scrimmage, where it bounced a few times before it was recovered by Jones. Georgia scored three plays later to take a 7-0 lead.
Later in the first quarter, Jones forced Driskel’s second turnover. After Driskel stepped up in the pocket and broke the tackle of linebacker Jordan Jenkins, Jones delivered the hit to Driskel’s blindside that jarred the ball loose.
The pass rush was also key to Driskel’s second interception, which came in the third quarter when he was hit as he threw and floated a pass to Swann, who was all alone for the easy pick.
“You can’t limit yourself in the passing game every single snap in order to chip,” Muschamp said.
One of Driskel’s most glaring errors came on the final play of the first half. With the Gators on the Bulldogs’ 5-yard line and trailing 7-3, Driskel took the snap, rolled right and then threw across his body to Trey Burton in the end zone. Georgia safety Bacarri Rambo hardly had to move to haul in the interception that crushed a potential momentum-changing drive.
“It was a dumb mistake,” Driskel said. “Can’t make that mistake, especially in the red zone.”
Said coach Will Muschamp: “He knew he should’ve ate the ball there before half. He knows. … Got to make a better decision.”
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