Getting pressure on Carson Beck will dictate the fate of Florida Football vs Georgia
One of the significant problems for Florida Football in 2023 was generating sacks on defense. The Gators had less than two sacks per game and finished 94th in the country in sacks per game.
Entering 2024, defensive line play was a major question mark for the squad and those fears were confirmed against Miami and Texas A&M. Since then the unit has preformed better and is statisically one of the better units in the country.
Florida is going to need the unit to keep performing if it wants any shot at pulling off the upset against Georgia.
Florida Football: Pressure
Florida currently has 17 sacks on the season and is averaging 2.43 sacks per game. That is good for 38th in the country. In games against FBS competition, Florida is sacking opposing QBs at a rate of 7.22% of dropbacks. That is good for 34th in the country.
But now the unit has to prove it has improved and isn't simply benefitting from playing the soft part of their schedule.
Georgia is allowing 1.14 sacks per game, 26th in the country. They are also only getting sacked on 3.02% of dropbacks, the 16th best in the country.
One of the core problems for Florida over the past two seasons is that they have gotten mauled in the trenches. In the past two years against Georgia, Florida has zero sacks.
Zero.
If that trend continues on Saturday, it will spell even greater disaster for the Gators. In 2022 and 2023, Georgia ran the ball more than they threw it. In 2024, Georgia is throwing the ball on 56% of plays on offense. That's the 18th-highest rate in the country.
Carson Beck may have his struggles, but that often comes when placed under pressure. When placed under pressure, Beck has a completion rate of 40% and an average yards per attempt of 5.7 yards. When his pocket is clean, his completion rate jumps to 70% with an average yards per attempt of 8.4 yards.
If Florida can't generate pressure on Saturday, the odds of Beck picking them apart are high. If Florida can figure out ways to get into his face, the Gators might just engineer enough stops to stay competitive.