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Florida football: Running on the UGA defense is an uphill battle

By Will Thomas

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 17: Montrell Johnson Jr. #2 of the Florida Gators scores a touchdown during the 2nd quarter of a game against the South Florida Bulls at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 17, 2022 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)
GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 17: Montrell Johnson Jr. #2 of the Florida Gators scores a touchdown during the 2nd quarter of a game against the South Florida Bulls at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 17, 2022 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images) /
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Florida football has had its ups and downs this year, but Gator fans stick with the team in all kinds of weather.

That said, it’s looking a little gloomy this weekend. The Gators make the drive up to Jacksonville to take on the #1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs. Defensively, the Gators may be slightly overmatched. And the matchup game doesn’t get a lot brighter when the Gator offense takes the field.

We all know that the Gators are a run-heavy team. They run for 213 yards a game on 6.4 yards per carry. UF has also run for 20 touchdowns this year, compared to only seven scores coming through the air.

Here’s the good news about this weekend. UGA DOES NOT rank in the top 3 rush defenses in the country.

They are #4 however. They’ve been surrendering 3.3 yards per carry, and have only given up one rushing TD all year. Do you want to know what that rush TD was?

A one-yard carry by Kent St in the 4th quarter of a 2-score game.

The game they gave up the most rushing yards was that week one demolition they performed on Oregon, where the Ducks ran for 140.

I’m getting physically ill writing about how good their defense is, so let’s get into some good news.

The Gators have the best ground game of any team UGA has played. (Oregon is technically ranked higher with total yards, but UF has a better YPC and the same TDs)

The three-headed monster of AR-Johnson-Etienne is much more dynamic than any other backfield Georgia has faced. To be effective, they’ll likely have to run a few option plays to create confusion and some extra space to work.

Richardson is going to be out looking for revenge this weekend too. We saw what he can do when he’s mad against LSU, running an 81-yard house call after the Tigers’ band played over Tom Petty.

AR had a bad game last year in his first career start against UGA. He was 12/20 in the air for 82 yards and 2 INTs and only ran for 26 yards.

This is a tough matchup for the Gators, but if HE15MAN comes out, you never know what might happen.

Keep up with Florida football at Hail Florida Hail.

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