Four games into Florida’s 2026 season, it looked like Jadan Baugh could carry Florida by himself to at least a 30-point game without even trying. Then Missouri dared the Gators to do litteraly anything different and could not. South Carolina took the same approach, and it also worked.
Texas wasn’t quite as aggressive in selling out against the run, and Baugh found some success again.
This Saturday against Georgia, Florida’s offense is going to need to get Baugh going as Buster Faulkner’s own history against Georgia has shown he needs a successful running game to keep the ball moving against the Bulldog defense.
Florida will need a successful running game to have a chance against Georgia
During his SEC Teleconference, Jon Sumrall was asked about Baugh and how much Florida needed a successful running game to help out whichever QB they started on Saturday.
Sumrall didn’t shy away from the importance:
“The biggest challenge for us is when we've gotten in negative plays and been in longer yardage situations. Even if you look at just the Texas game, early in the game, we didn't stay ahead of the chains enough, and that's why we had a hard time offensively with staying on the field.
That's when we've had, throughout the year, when we've had struggles, it's been first-down inefficiencies. It led to third-and-longs, which makes playing every position on the field harder.”
It’s not just Florida in 2026 that has struggled when they can’t get a running game going. Faulkner’s past two years against Georgia while still the OC at Georgia Tech hint that it could be a long day if Florida can’t get the running game going.
Back in 2024, when Georgia Tech took Georgia to eight overtimes before losing, the Yellow Jackets had an average yard per rush of 5.5 yards en route to putting up 42 points. In 2025, the Yellow Jackets averaged just 3.0 yards per rush and managed only 9 points.
This isn’t groundbreaking, but a team will struggle if it becomes one-dimensional. But it does highlight that you can’t expect Florida to throw the ball 50 times against Georgia and still win on Saturday.
For what it is worth, Baugh had decent success against Georgia last year, with 72 yards and a TD on 15 runs. In 2024, he got 64 yards on 17 carries.
On Saturday, Baugh will probably need to eclipse 100 yards if the Gators are to pull off the upset in Atlanta.
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