No. 1 Georgia 43, Florida 20,
EverBank Stadium – Jacksonville, Florida
Attendance: 76, 251 (largest since 2019 – stadium reconfiguration)

OFFENSIVE NOTES

• WR Eugene Wilson III set a UF freshman record with a career-high 11 receptions, breaking the
  previous tie held between himself, Jabar Gaffney and Reidel Anthony with eight apiece.
  o Wilson finished with 75 yards receiving and one touchdown.
• QB Graham Mertz has now opened his UF career with eight-straight games completing at least
  62.0% of his passes and one passing touchdown (70.5%, 82.4%, 79.2%, 87.0%, 83.3%, 83.3%, 62.5%,
  71.0%)
  o Mertz opened the campaign with six-consecutive performances with a completion
  percentage above 70.0% and has accomplished the feat in seven of eight games this
  season.
• Mertz finished 25-for-34 (74.0%) for 230 yards and two touchdowns.
  o He opened the game 9-for-9 for 70 yards and one touchdown.
• Mertz has not thrown an interception in his last 119 pass attempts and has been picked off just
  once in his last 242 attempts.
  o Mertz’s 119 passes without an interception rank sixth all-time at Florida. He needs two more
  attempts to tie Tim Tebow (2009) for fifth.
• Florida scored on its opening drive on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Mertz to Wilson III, signifying
  UF’s first opening-drive score against Georgia since 2009.
  o The score marked the longest touchdown reception of Wilson’s young career.
  o Florida has scored in the first quarter in seven of eight games this season (at Kentucky).
  o Wilson III posted four receptions for 62 yards on UF’s opening drive.
• Mertz has thrown a touchdown pass in 23 of his last 26 games including all eight starts as a Gator.
  o Mertz has thrown multiple touchdown passes in four-straight games.
• WR Ricky Pearsall recorded a reception in his 36th-consecutive game, the seventh-longest streak in
  the FBS.
• TE Hayden Hansen caught his second-career touchdown with a five-yard grab in the fourth
  quarter.
  ● The Gators have rushed for 100-plus yards in 16 of their last 21 games since 2022 including five of
  eight games this season.
  DEFENSIVE NOTES

● DE Princley Umanmielen set a career high with nine tackles (six solo) while also notching a team-
high 1.5 tackles for loss.

● CB Jason Marshall Jr. recorded a career-high three pass breakups and also picked up one tackle
for loss.
● LB Jack Pyburn posted a career-high four tackles.
● S Bryce Thornton set a career high with eight tackles and picked up 0.5 TFL.
● DL Tyreak Sapp tied his career high with four tackles while adding 0.5 TFL.
SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES
● P Jeremy Crawshaw punted four times for an average of 50.3 yards including a long punt of 58
yards, two 50-yard punts and one kick inside the opposing 20-yard line.
o Crawshaw has punted for 50-plus yards on 47 of 113 career punts.

EXPLOSIVE PLAYS (13)
● Eugene Wilson III (from Graham Mertz): 27-yard reception, first quarter
● Eugene Wilson III (from Mertz): 25-yard touchdown reception, first quarter
● Trevor Etienne: 14-yard rush, first quarter
● Trevor Etienne: 10-yard rush, first quarter
● Montrell Johnson Jr.: 12-yard rush, first quarter
● Montrell Johnson Jr.: 12-yard rush, second quarter

● Ricky Pearsall (from Mertz): 29-yard reception, third quarter
● Trevor Etienne: 17-yard rush, third quarter
● Ricky Pearsall (from Mertz): 26-yard reception, third quarter
● Montrell Johnson Jr.: 48-yard rush, fourth quarter
● Montrell Johnson Jr. (from Mertz): 16-yard reception, fourth quarter
● Ricky Pearsall (from Mertz): 19-yard reception, fourth quarter
● Ricky Pearsall (from Mertz): 23-yard reception, fourth quarter
SERIES UPDATES
● Tonight’s game represented the 101st all-time meeting between Florida and Georgia including the
91st in Jacksonville.
● With tonight’s loss, the Gators fall to 44-55-2 (.446) in the all-time series vs. Georgia and 41-49-1 (.456)
in Jacksonville.

• HC Billy Napier drops to 0-2 against Georgia HC Kirby Smart in their second meeting as head
  coaches.
  THE STREAK
  ● Florida has scored in 444-consecutive games — which is an NCAA record and 54 games longer
  than any other college football team in history.
  o The Gators broke Michigan’s record of 365-consecutive games (1984-2014) against LSU on
  Oct. 7, 2017.
  o The last time Florida was shut out was on Oct. 29, 1988 vs. Auburn (L, 16-0).

GAME DETAILS
● Florida Game Captains: #6 Shemar James, #15 Graham Mertz, #1 Ricky Pearsall, #1 Princely
Umanmielen
● Coin Toss: Georgia won the toss and deferred; Florida received and defended the south end zone.
● Attendance: 76, 251 (largest since 2019 – stadium reconfiguration)

University of Florida Football
Media Conference
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Gainesville, Florida, USA
Coach Billy Napier
Press Conference

Georgia – 43, Florida – 20
COACH NAPIER: We made too many mistakes today.
We knew the margin of error was going to be small. I do
think we can coach better in all three parts of our team. I
think obviously looking the players in the eye after the
game, I think they know they can play better as well.
And ultimately, Georgia’s got a good football team.
They’ve got good personnel. They’ve got a good coaching
staff. They’ve got veteran players that have been in their
system, and they played well today.
We made too many critical mistakes. I think, in particular,
the two huge mistakes in the first half allowed the game to
kind of get out of control to some degree.
I do think that the kids continued to play hard. I do think
we have a group that has character. I think, ultimately,
when you fail in the game of football and in life, you got an
opportunity to learn. How do you get wiser? You make
mistakes along the way. How do you get smarter and get
better at what you do, how do you continue to grow and
develop? Ultimately you have to go through tough times,
you have to make mistakes along the way. And we did
today.
Credit to Georgia. They beat us today. I do think that this
group will respond the right way. I think ultimately, as a
staff and as a team, being a man and taking ownership of
things that you can do better.
And I think ultimately we can compromise our character, or
we can choose character, and we can go about our
business here. And there’s no sympathy.
You guys certainly don’t have any sympathy for us, and in
our league there’s no sympathy. You’ve got to turn the
page and get ready to go the next week.
We’ll go through this thing with a fine-tooth comb. It’s
important that the experience that we had today, that we
learn from that, all parts of our organization and certainly

the players in that locker room.
I do think we did some good things today, but, ultimately,
not enough, and certainly not with consistency. We made
too many errors. The sack/fumble and the blocked punt in
particular, those two, it’s a 14-point swing and a ton of
momentum.
Q. Can you just take us through the thinking on the
fourth-and-one at your own 34, I guess, it was pretty
early there? Did you think you got a bad spot on the
third down at the end of the first quarter?
COACH NAPIER: No, I think one was a go. And I think,
ultimately, at that point in the game we felt it was going to
be a point total that we needed to get to to win the game.
Felt we had a good play. I think we’re close there.
Whether or not the spot was right, I don’t know. Our
league’s got really good people. They got people back in
Birmingham are viewing all that information.
So, ultimately, the officials, they didn’t have a huge impact
on today. Didn’t have much to do with them.
Q. Throwing the ball there versus, it was fourth and
inches, does that show a little bit about —
COACH NAPIER: It was a little less than a full yard. It
wasn’t inches.
Q. Does it show a little bit about your concern about
how daunting their front can be?
COACH NAPIER: No, I think that ultimately — I’ve got
conviction about the call. I mean, you can go a lot of
different directions. We can sit here. That’s one of many
plays today that probably we’d like to have back.
But it’s not necessarily about the plays at times. It’s about
the players. It’s about the execution. We can certainly call
better plays at times today, but ultimately it comes down to
the execution of the play.
Q. You guys had a very fast start, impressive start.

138606-1-1045 2023-10-28 23:54:00 GMT Page 1 of 3

Where do you think the momentum kind of shifted?
COACH NAPIER: I think if you look at that second, third,
fourth possession there, we made some mistakes. We got
behind the sticks. We had a penalty. We got sacked.
Those, in particular.
I mean, I do think that — we felt like we needed to throw it
at times in the game. And we did rush the ball effectively
at times, in particular, early. I felt we had some good
concepts.
But we got off schedule and then ultimately we lived in
second-and-long, third-and-long there, the second, third,
fourth, fifth possession of the game. A lot of those are long
yardages. When you play that group you have to stay on
schedule so you can have some balance.
Q. And Georgia, just obviously it’s the gold standard
in the league. What do you take away from just kind of
big picture-wise on —
COACH NAPIER: I think it all matters. I think every single
part of what we do matters. The evaluation of players
matters. The recruitment of players matter. Ultimately,
you need continuity in system. You need to develop
players. This is a developmental game. You need players
in your system for multiple years.
I do think that ultimately a set of intangibles, a set of values
that I think resonate with the players, that they play with
effort and they play with toughness, they play with
discipline. It all matters. And they’re a good example of
that.
I think this is the eighth year for Kirby. And, look, we’ve got
work to do to chase them down. There’s no denying that.
And we’re in the middle of that process, in the middle of
that journey.
So it causes you to respect all parts of building a football
team, ultimately. I think there’s a number of things that can
be done better from just game-day, situational football.
They do it all well. And today we gave them a little bit too
much.
Q. There’s no sympathy medal or anything like that,
but what can you take positively away from this game?
COACH NAPIER: I thought we showed some fight early. I
thought we continued to scrap in the game. We continued
— I think, ultimately, 14 points — you basically had two
critical errors that led to 14 points, short fields.
The recipe for the game was to not do that and try to get

them to do that. And ultimately that didn’t happen today.
You know, the game got out of control as a result of some
critical errors. I think when we go back and watch it, we
know exactly what happened. And I think we’ve got to take
ownership of that.
Q. Trey was clearly a big part of the game plan. He
was somebody that Kirby mentioned when he wasn’t
asked about and clearly knew about. How important
was it for him and the other freshmen, T.J. Searcy,
guys like that to get the experience like this?
COACH NAPIER: That’s what I’m describing here. I think
ultimately we all can agree in this room (indiscernible)
some of the best what you can do. But ultimately you’ve
got experience. Experience got you here.
I think that’s important for our staff, but it’s invaluable for
young players. And I think that I’m hopeful that they’ll take
what they learned today and go back to work. I think that
our team will do that. I’ve got a ton of confidence.
They know we care about them. This group will get up and
go back to work.
Q. The pass defense, McConkey hurt you a lot of
times. Just the evaluation of the secondary and the
inability also to make Carson uncomfortable as well?
COACH NAPIER: I think you’re spot on. Certainly couldn’t
get him off his spot much, I thought they protected him
well. And certainly there were guys open, even in man
coverage at times.
That’s what I’m kind of getting at here relative to we can
help as a staff conceptually. We can do more. And,
ultimately, players had opportunities today.
I think it’s a combination of all of it together. That’s a good
question. McConkey is a good player, though. He’s been
a good player for a long time.
Q. I know these were second-half injuries, but we saw
Shemar James injured in warm-ups. Can you provide
us with an update on him or Kingsley Eguakun?
COACH NAPIER: Kingsley is okay. Same ankle,
aggravated him a little bit there. Princely, he did have a
little incident pregame — I mean, Shemar, sorry.
So, yeah, he was able to play. Certainly a little bit of a
setback there late. I do think it will be something we’ll be
evaluating, big picture-wise for him. It is a prior injury. It’s
an injury that he had before in high school that kind of

138606-1-1045 2023-10-28 23:54:00 GMT Page 2 of 3

came to life today a little bit. So we’ll give you more of an
update in the middle of the week.
Q. Because they’re so good and so talented, do you
sometimes feel you have to coach a little riskier maybe
than if you were facing —
COACH NAPIER: I don’t feel that way at all. I feel like we
need to eliminate sack fumbles on short fields and not get
punts blocked. Those have nothing to do with coaching
risky.
I think if we do those things well, it’s probably a little bit
closer game going into the locker room at halftime. Playing
from behind is a challenge. Ultimately, I think that was the
big issue today.
Q. Offensive line play, what would you evaluate from
this contest and the health of the unit and the
challenges they face, where do you feel they’re at after
watching today?
COACH NAPIER: I think we struggled to protect them a
little bit at times, but I also think they covered us pretty
good. Some of those, we’re holding the ball. I think if
we’re throwing the ball three hitch on time, there’s short
edges, we’re climbing, guy gets a little bit of his elbow
there, the ball comes out.
They made him move a little bit, but, listen, it’s a
combination of the rush and the coverage, right? It’s not
one or the other.
And I don’t think there was any just purely immediate
sacks. I think it was a combination of the arresting
coverage. This is the game we play, right? When you play
a team that can cover you and good rushers and they have
a good plan, the key to the drill is you try to avoid those.
We don’t want to live in second-and-long, get back on
track, third-and-seven, -10, -11-plus. Those are tough
downs for any football team.
And certainly when you’ve got good cover guys and good
rushers, that can cause problems for you. But, look, we
ran the ball effectively at times today. I don’t think we had
a ton of mental errors. They’ve got a long, heavy-handed
group up front. And I think the two inside backers do a
good job.
I think that’s the strength of their defensive group and,
ultimately, when we watch the tape, I probably would be
able to tell you a little more Monday, but there’s no doubt.
The group we have, we can’t live in that world. We need to
stay on schedule, avoid penalties, avoid negative plays

and tackles for loss.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports Graham Mertz.

138606-1-1045 2023-10-28 23:54:00 GMT Page 3 of 3

University of Florida Football
Media Conference
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Gainesville, Florida, USA
Graham Mertz
Press Conference

Georgia – 43, Florida – 20
Q. How formidable was that front? And how difficult
was it once you guys got behind, chasing points?
GRAHAM MERTZ: I think anytime we got behind the
sticks, second-and-10, third-and-long, that’s where their
game plan specific. They’re a talented defense. You just
can’t put yourself in that situation.
I think there were multiple times in there I could have done
a better job giving us the right call or throwing to a different
person. When you get behind the sticks, it’s never easy,
especially against a good defense.
Q. Just broadly, what would you say were some of the
things that maybe held you guys back today?
GRAHAM MERTZ: I think there were a set amount of
plays that, when you’re playing a great team like that, I
mean the margin for error, Coach talked about it all week,
is so slim.
You make a mistake. I stepped in the pocket, didn’t have
good ball control. The ball got tipped out. It’s first and,
what, around the 15-, 18-yard line. There’s so many little
plays within the game, but I can think of a set amount that
we flat out didn’t execute. And it really flipped the score.
Especially when you’re playing a good team like that, the
score can get away from you quick. We’ve got to be better.
Q. In your opinion, what do you think changed really
from that first drive where you guys were moving the
ball pretty well and then as the first and second
quarter went on, the offense struggled a little bit more.
GRAHAM MERTZ: I think first drive we were clicking. And
then after — they have great coaches too; they’ve got great
players, too. They made adjustments. I think anytime
you’re in a game, you’ve got to be prepared to give a
punch and receive a punch, I think, especially in this sport.
It’s a fistfight, and it’s for four quarters.

We’ve got to be better to be prepared for that punch and
punch back and be able to respond quickly. We started
fast. Momentum was going. We knew it was going to be a
momentum game, especially with the stands split 50/50.
So we’ve got to do a better job of setting that temperature.
We always talk about — I had a coach tell me one time, the
difference between a thermostat and thermometer leader —
can’t be a thermometer team thermostat team that sets the
energy and the tempo and continues that tempo.
Q. What was your message and the leadership group’s
message to the team after being handed a loss like
this?
GRAHAM MERTZ: I think the guys are frustrated.
Because we know we’re better than that. And we know it’s
controllable stuff. We’ve said that at Utah and Kentucky,
now this game. Every game there’s stuff you can control
that go wrong, but it’s what did you do after that, your
response to that.
I think we’re going to push guys to have that short-term
memory and respond quick, especially when you’re playing
great teams. We have a lot of great teams on the
schedule. It’s going to come down to executing, playing at
a high level and being able to take a punch, give a punch,
and keep punching because these games are going to be
four-quarter battles.
Q. On that fourth-and-one early in the second quarter,
from your own 34, did that ball go between your legs?
GRAHAM MERTZ: Yes.
Q. And were you surprised you guys went for it there,
and do you think it shifted the momentum?
GRAHAM MERTZ: It definitely shifted the momentum. I
trust Coach Napier and his play call with all my heart.
Anytime he calls a play it’s my job to go out there and
execute it.
We had a direct snap to Trev, and they had a great
defensive call and they made a play. It was a momentum

138608-1-1045 2023-10-29 00:09:00 GMT Page 1 of 2

shift, but when that happens, our defense did a great job
of, especially when we would give them a short field, I
mean, holding them to those few field goals. That was big.
So for us we’ve got to play complementary football in all
three phases, but I’m never going to doubt a play call. It’s
my job to go out there and execute it.
Q. (Inaudible)?
GRAHAM MERTZ: Every game we’ve got a few things,
trick plays that you’ve got designed for different situations.
We knew they were going to stem and check sneak. So it
was a game plan, a specific thing.
Q. You were talking a couple minutes ago about kind
of the response. What do you and the leadership
group here, how do you make sure this doesn’t
snowball into the season going south?
GRAHAM MERTZ: I’ll tell you right now it’s not going to
snowball. They’re a great team. They got after us today.
We made a few mistakes. But we’ve got a young team
and I’m confident in our leaders to see the bigger picture.
We’ve seen that all year.
We know what this team has. And we know that our best
is still out there. So there will be no snowball effect from
this, I can guarantee you that.
Q. On the fourth-and-one, did Trevor have a run-pass
option on that?
GRAHAM MERTZ: Yeah. He had run-pass option.
Q. Georgia is the gold standard right now in the SEC.
What do you think that — what does it tell you about
where the program is, where the team is when you play
a team like that?
GRAHAM MERTZ: I thought our guys competed. The
score got away quick, but across the board, we’ll turn the
tape on and we’ll see good and see bad. And for us as a
program we have to keep striving to be better. It’s so
cliché to say. But it’s what we do on a daily and weekly
basis.
You’re working all week to go out there on game day and
put your best out there.
There was some great stuff on tape. I haven’t looked at it
yet. But I know there’s going to be some good stuff.
There’s going to be some bad stuff.
I trust where this place is going 110 percent. There’s not a

bone in my body that thinks it’s going in a different
direction.
Q. And how highly anticipated was this game because
of the opportunity it presented, playing a team that’s
won 24 in a row and a couple national titles?
GRAHAM MERTZ: I think anytime you’re really — my way
about going about it, every time you have an opportunity to
play this game is a blessing. So regardless of the
opponent, especially — I’m just so thankful to go out there
and play.
Like I said, it sounds so cliché, but as a team when you
know that you’re going to a game and you kind of control
your destiny, it gets guys excited, gets you amped up. I’m
definitely not one that would like to lose.
Q. You seem like you made it a point to find Kirby
afterwards and say, I don’t know if it was to say hi,
congrats, whatever. Do you do it with all opposing
coaches, or why was Kirby someone you wanted to
reach out to after the game?
GRAHAM MERTZ: He recruited me pretty heavy out of
high school. It’s funny, there were a bunch of coaches — in
every game there’s a coach who either recruited me or I
was with at Wisconsin. I feel like I’ve been in college a
while, so I know a lot of people.
It was funny. It was, like, Coach Dickey was out there. He
was at A&M. And Coach Streeter, he was at Clemson.
And obviously Coach Smart. In every game I know some
coaches.
So if I know them and they recruited me, took the time to
put energy and effort into me as a person, I feel like I owe it
to them to go say hi.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports

138608-1-1045 2023-10-29 00:09:00 GMT Page 2 of 2

University of Florida Football
Media Conference
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Gainesville, Florida, USA
Jason Marshall Jr.
Press Conference

Georgia – 43, Florida – 20
Q. The challenge of covering Ladd McConkey today,
what was that like? I know you had some pass
breakups, but he got the better of you a few times too.
Talk about that battle this afternoon.
JASON MARSHALL JR.: Like you said, some plays he did
get the better of me. But at the end of the day, he is a
great player. I’m a great player. He’s going to make plays.
And that’s pretty much it.
Q. What would you say were some of the things that
maybe didn’t go right for you today, your immediate
thoughts after the game? What do you think held you
guys back on this one?
JASON MARSHALL JR.: Nothing really held us back. It
was just a lot of mistakes, offense and defense-wise, game
changing-wise, and basically we had to fix those.
Q. Jason, just talk about what pressure was put on the
secondary, because you know the defensive line
struggled to really put pressure on Beck. So what
does that then do for the secondary, knowing that is
not really a lot — there’s not really anyone coming to
the quarterback?
JASON MARSHALL JR.: Nothing to that. Just gotta cover
our guys. It’s as simple as that. They have to do their job.
We have to do our job. At the end of the day, just gotta
cover our guys.
Q. How difficult was it the way things just spiraled out
of control there at the start of the second quarter and
was it just one bad quarter the whole time?
JASON MARSHALL JR.: Like you said, it was a bad
quarter. Like I said earlier, the mistakes kind of held us
back. As we grew on the mistakes, the lead grew. So we
can’t allow that to happen.
Q. You’re one of the longest tenured players on the

team at this point. You’ve seen a lot of downs over the
years. What is your message to guys who haven’t
experienced much after a loss like this to keep guys
motivated and going through the rest of the year?
JASON MARSHALL JR.: Nothing much. We have a lot of
football left to play. It’s getting back to the lab, and we
have work to do. That’s the message, we have work to do.
Q. How confident are you that this team is not going to
let this be in vein, they’ll capitalize on this and it’s
going to be a beneficial learning experience, for a lot of
the young guys, especially, on this team?
JASON MARSHALL JR.: Like I said, I’m excited for the
young guys that haven’t experienced some type of loss like
this. Myself being a leader, just telling them, like I just said,
keep your head down, keep working, we have a lot of
football left to play.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports

138609-1-1045 2023-10-29 00:11:00 GMT Page 1 of 1

GEORGIA FOOTBALL

*Extending The Streaks: With today’s 43-20 win, top-ranked Georgia (8-0, 5-0 SEC) has extended its school record for consecutive victories
now to 25. The streak began during the 2021 season (Dec. 31) when the Bulldogs beat #2 Michigan 34-11 in a CFP semifinal at the Capital One
Orange Bowl. This streak ranks as the fourth longest in SEC history.
*Georgia now has set a school record with its 24th consecutive regular season SEC victory dating to a 31-24 win over Miss. State on
Nov. 21, 2020. The 24-game streak ranks tied for second in SEC history with UF (1994-97).
*The Bulldogs extended their school record for consecutive regular season wins to 35, which leads all of FBS. This streak began during
the 2020 season with a 31-24 win over Miss. State. on Nov. 21.
*The Bulldogs are now 41-1 in their last 42 games.
*Georgia improves to 8-0 for the fourth time in the Kirby Smart era (now 89-15 overall), joining the 2017, 2021 and 2022 clubs.

• With the latest victory over UF, Georgia now holds a 56-44-2 edge in the series history including 6-2 under Smart.
  *A first in the series history, Georgia has beaten Florida three straight by at least 20 points (34-7 in 2021; 42-20 in 2022; 43-20 in 2023).
  *Summary Of The Offense: Georgia finished with 486 yards of total offense on 66 plays, tallying 43 points. UF was allowing just 20.0 ppg.
  *Junior QB Carson Beck, a Jacksonville native, finished 19-for-28, 315 yards, 2 TDs in his first start in the series.
  *Junior WR Ladd McConkey had his second career 100-yard receiving game and finished with six receptions for 135 yards, both career highs.
  He had a 41-yard TD catch, his first of the year, and 13th overall.
  *Junior Dominic Lovett (4 rec. for 83 yards) had a career-long 55-yard reception from Beck which was his longest completion too.
  *Sophomore Dillon Bell notched a 17-yard TD, his first this year (4th career), to cap a six play, 76-yard drive to put the Bulldogs up 36-7.
  *Senior Kendall Milton’s one-yard plunge finished off a 10 play, 75-yard drive in 6:32 to make it 43-13. Milton had 55 yards on 13 carries.
  Senior Daijun Edwards rushed 16 times for 95 yards including a pair of TDs to lead rushers.
  *The Bulldogs had 110 rushing yards on 18 attempts for a 6.1 average at the half and finished with 171 yards on 38 carries for a 4.5 avg.
  *Defensive Review: UF ended the game with 339 yards of total offense on 59 plays.
  *In the first half, UF tallied just 120 yards of offense on 30 plays After UF’s opening TD drive, the Gators final five possessions of the half resulted
  in 42 yards on 23 plays. The Bulldogs collected four sacks in the first half after coming in with 12 for the year.
  *Sophomore LB Jalon Walker forced a sack/fumble, only the second forced fumble by the Bulldogs this year. Junior Jamon Dumas-Johnson
  notched a sack to give him a team-leading 3.5.
  Sophomore Marvin Jones, Jr. collected the first fumble recovery of the season for the Bulldogs. Redshirt sophomore Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins
  caused the fumble, just the third by the Bulldogs this season.
  *Junior Javon Bullard a team-high seven tackles, senior Tykee Smith had six while junior Smael Mondon had five tackles including 2 TFL.
  *In the first half, UF had 22 rushing yards on 14 attempts for a 1.6 average and finished the game .
  *UF’s lone TD in the second half came in the 4th quarter after trailing 36-7. It covered 75 yards on six plays in 2:49 and made it 36-13.
  *Special Teams picked up a safety to cap a run of 26 unanswered points by the Bulldogs in the first half. The Bulldogs now have scored 108
  points on 16 TDs and six safeties in the Kirby Smart era. It was the 30th score by either the defense or special teams under Smart. Georgia is
  now 27-1 when they register a non-offensive score score in the Smart era.
  *Sophomore P Brett Thorson had three pooch punts for a 35.7 average including placing all three inside the 20.
  Blocked Punt/Safety: Georgia registered a safety on a blocked punt by freshman Joenel Aguero. It was the first blocked punt by the Bulldogs
  since Jalon Walker versus Kent State in 2022 that resulted in a safety. It was the first safety since that day against KSU too.
  Woodring Tallies 11 Points: Freshman PK Peyton Woodring hit a 22- and a 32-yard field goal plus was 5-for-5 on PATs for 11 points. He is
  now 14-for-17 in field goals on the year.
  *Captains, Coin Toss and For Starters: Senior Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint (WR) plus juniors Sedrick Van Pran (C), Javon Bullard (S) and
  Jamon Dumas-Johnson (ILB) served as the game captains. Georgia won the toss and elected to defer the ball until the second half. Van Pran
  made his team-leading 38th career start. There were no first-time starters. Redshirt sophomore DL Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins saw his first action
  since being injured in the opener.
  *Honoring #77 Devin Willock: Junior Sedrick Van Pran (C), normally #63, wore #77 today in honor of his late teammate Devin Willock. A
  different Bulldog offensive lineman will be wearing #77 each game this season.
  *Up Next: Top-ranked Georgia (8-0, 5-0 SEC) plays host to No. 16 Missouri (7-1, 3-1 SEC) Saturday, Nov. 4 at 3:30 p.m. (CBS). The Tigers had
  an open date today with their lone loss a 49-39 decision to No. 23 LSU in Columbia on Oct. 7.

#

Postgame Notes: The Florida Game, Oct. 28, 2023

2023 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Kirby Smart, Georgia Head Coach
No. 1 Georgia 43, Florida 20
October 28, 2023

Opening statement…
“We came in with an idea of focusing on the mindset of mission team me. We talked about it all
week, and we wanted to put the mission first, team first and me last. I thought we had a lot of guys
do that today. We did it together. We put ourselves out there. We knew we could play winning
football. And I think this team’s improving and getting better, but we’re still not where we need to be.
I was certainly proud of the competitors that went out and fought today for our university, and
continue to do that. I was proud of our fans. They supported us even though we didn’t start the way
we wanted to. But, we responded and played well. We were able to control the line of scrimmage,
which ultimately is the difference in this conference. If you can win the line of scrimmage, you got a
chance.”
On Carson Beck rising to the moment…
“I don’t worry about Carson. Apparently, you guys do. I don’t worry about Carson. He’s very
confident. He’s calm. He understands football. He’s never real high, never real low. He studies really
hard. He texts questions all week. He studies and meets with Coach [Mike] Bobo. He puts a plan
together and makes good decisions, and he’s continued to improve by not putting us in bad
situations. And there’s things that aren’t on the stat sheet that I don’t have time to explain, that he
does an elite job. Run checks. Looks. Putting us in the best play. Decision to throw the RPO or hand
the ball off. There’s not really a value you can put on that. I know as defensive coordinator, there’s
not much worse than feeling like you got the right call and he moves the back, he moves the tight
end and he runs it and you got a bad call. That’s tough.”
On the importance of this year’s rivalry showdown…
“Well, you can’t win the East without going through Jacksonville most of the time. This year, it may not
play out that way, but in year’s past, we showed them the stat of, I don’t know if it’s eight of the last
10, seven of the last 10, has come through Jacksonville, and may more than that. When you’re
building a program, you’ve got to beat the best teams in your division. Florida certainly [has done]
that historically. They’ve been one of the best teams in our division.”
On if there was a message to the team after the opening score…
“Not really. We’re kind of getting used to that. I mean, we gave it up against Vanderbilt and maybe
South Carolina, both those games. Not a lot of panic in that group. We certainly need to rectify
starting the game better, but the comfortable part is nobody panics. We had some mistakes, some
anxiety, hadn’t played in two weeks. Give them credit. They threw the ball to a really good
playmaker. We talked all week about [Eugene] Wilson and three, he’s a really good player, and they
did a great job utilizing his skillset. And we didn’t do great job stopping him. But, it wasn’t like there
was a panic mode. It was, can we control the run game. If we can control the run game, then we’ll
basically slow down the throw.”

On the performance in the absence of Brock Bowers…
“It’s great. I told people that this offense, it’s not built around one player. [Coach] Bobo was here
before and had success offensively, and Todd Monken was here and had success offensively. And
Monken left and Bobo came, and it’s not built around one player. It’s really built around the defense.
That’s the beauty of it. You don’t have to have just one guy. Brock is certainly extremely valuable,
because you can scheme plays to make him the guy. Well, today, there were plays we would run
with Brock. There was somebody else in those spots, and it’s not always [Oscar] Delp. I thought Delp
did a tremendous job, especially momentum early in the game to go up and make that catch that
he made. But Brock knows that. Brock’s over there supporting those guys.”
On his reaction to Florida’s early fourth down call…
“Not surprised they went for it at all. I actually had the stat before the game, I told them, my gut
intuition is this game is going to come down to some short-yardage situations. I said, typically, when
you play Billy [Napier] he’s very aggressive in terms of analytics and believes in it, and he has a lot of
fourth downs that he goes for it on. We’re gonna win some. We’re gonna lose some. We’re going to
go defend them. We’re going to work really hard on that and I told the offense, if it comes down to a
third-and-one-or-two, fourth-and-one-or-two, shoot, they’re going to go for it. So, let’s make sure we
walk through that and do that more in the next 12-14 hours. And I’ll be danged if that play, it was
early in the game where you can still overcome that play, but it was certainly a big momentum play
that we thought if we had our eyes in the right spot we could play it.”

2023 Florida Football Postgame Quotes

Georgia Student-Athletes
No. 1 Georgia 43, Florida 20
October 28, 2023

15 Carson Beck | QB | Jr.

On the team’s performance…
“I thought we had great execution on both sides of the ball, on special teams, with the punt block. When all
three sides of the game are working that well, obviously it is going to lead to a win for us.”
On playing with intensity…
“Every single game, we just go out and try to be the best we can be and execute. If we can execute then it is
going to lead to wins.”
On if the game went how he thought it would…
“I have been waiting for this for four years, since the second that I got here. Honestly, since before then. One
day I was going to be able to say that I played in this game. That was one of the goals and dremas that I had
when I was younger. To come out here and do that and excute like that as a team, it beats all that I thought.”

96 Zion Logue | DL | Sr.

On being physical on defense…
“We talked about it earlier in the week. We knew it was going to be a physical point for our defense to get into
the back field and cause some havoc. As you have seen today, we went out and did it.”
On Florida not going for it on fourth down…
“That is just what teams do against us. They don’t really try to run it at us. They try to get around us and go
side ot side rather than go downhill. A lot of teams have to do that. They have to go side to side.”
On having the bye week to prepare for this game…
“That is always a huge advantage for us knowing we have the bye week going into this game. Everybody is
going to be able to play to the best of thier abilities in this game. We knew we had to come out and execute.”

84 Ladd McConkey | WR | Jr.

On preparing for the remainder of the season…
“We have a tough stretch coming up, but we were focused on this one. Not looking ahead, we focused on
Florida this week. Missouri will be next week, and it will be the next one after that when it comes. We are
taking it week by week.”
On tying his career high yardage tonight…
“When you can get out there and make plays, it always feels good. Getting this week and the way we did it, it
felt even better. It was awesome. I am super proud of our guys, and I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone
else.”
On his first reception back being a touchdown…
“It was pretty cool to know that. I don’t even look at that. I just go out there any play. Whatever happens,
happens.”
On playing without Brock Bowers…
“The whole mindset was that it is not just one person. It is not one person can fill Brock Bowers’ role. Everyone
is stepping up five percent and trying to contribute to try to fill that void. For one person to go out there and
say, ‘I am going to take over and do what Brock Bowers does.’ It is silly to say. The whole offense had to step
up.”