One upset loss, an ugly water-soaked win and an off-week for it all to fester. The month leading up to “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” was a long, downward slope for Georgia.
So when Jake Fromm got the opportunity to trot out at TIAA Stadium and put it all behind him, he felt relieved.
“I was just wanting an opportunity to play,” Fromm said. “You always want to achieve to be great. It’s frustrating because we haven’t really had those opportunities, but we had that opportunity today.”
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Through it all, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart felt comfortable with his team. He had seen two poor performances against South Carolina and Kentucky, but he had also seen what Georgia was doing in practice.
“We had four turnovers and played really poorly against [South Carolina] and then we played in an absolute monsoon,” Smart said. “We see it every day. We see guys make plays, we see guys do things that y’all aren’t privy to.”
What Smart has seen in practice finally culminated on Saturday. In a 24-17 win over the sixth-ranked Gators, Georgia was a revitalized team relative to the previous weeks.
Fromm had a 180-degree turnaround compared to his last two games, posting 279 yards and two touchdowns. 410 yards of total offense while the defense only allowed 21 rushing yards.
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It was a huge performance for Georgia, possibly its best of the season. The result is in the books, but the energy generated by the Bulldogs’ performance will carry over to the upcoming weeks.
“It gets the momentum started,” Azeez Ojulari said. “We know we got three SEC games ahead of us… We gotta come in, use this momentum to help us keep rising.”
That momentum will be vital. Georgia hosts two solid SEC opponents in Missouri and Texas A&M while also taking a road trip to Auburn for a probable top-10 matchup. Barreling toward a likely trip to Atlanta for the SEC Championship, the Bulldogs can’t just ride the wave they created on Saturday, they need to build on it as well.
“They’re growing up, they’re getting better and we played better,” Smart said of his team. “But we still haven’t played our best yet, and that’s what I’m in search of.”
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