Whitley | Florida showed spunk but Georgia showed who's the boss

JACKSONVILLE — Florida’s season has become a search for baby steps. The latest came Saturday against Georgia.

Gators cover! Gators cover!

Fans could shout it from the top of the nearby Hart Bridge if they wanted to. I’m not sure anyone did, but you have to take your thrills anywhere you can find them when you’re 1-4 in the SEC.

That’s where the Gators find themselves this morning following the 42-20 loss. But the top-ranked Dawgs were favored by an unprecedented 22½ points.

Give the bookies credit for spread brilliance. As for the Gators, you can give them credit for spunkiness and backbone.

After falling behind 28-3, they scored the first 17 points of the second half. It continued a season-long theme of resiliency. They may get down, but they don’t get down on themselves. 

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That's a fundamental building block of the culture Billy Napier is trying the build in Gainesville. A block that Kirby Smart has cemented into place in Athens. 

The problem for UF was the other season-long themes that showed up in Jacksonville. Leaky defense. Erratic quarterbacking. Questionable play-calling. And in a new but not totally unexpected twist, Florida could not run the ball.

“Not good enough,” was Napier’s overall takeaway. “Need to coach better. Need to lead better. The players need to play better.”

The real problem is the Gators need better players. The game again showed the talent divide between Kirby Smart’s program and the one Napier is trying to build.

The one obvious thing Smart needs to work on is halftime speeches. The Bulldogs didn’t exactly play inspired ball in the third quarter. Then again, it’s only human nature to relax after poleaxing your opponent so easily at the start.

Florida actually forced the Bulldogs to punt on their first drive, but Georgia also converted a first-and-25. That was an ominous sign of things to come.

The Bulldogs zipped down the field for TDs on their next two possessions. Nobody who’d imbibed fewer than three cocktails thought the Gators would win, but there was a scenario where they’d at least be competitive.

They’d need some turnovers. UF’s leaky defense could not stop Georgia without some help from Georgia. On offense, Florida’s best unit has been its offensive line.

Throw in the return from injury its best blocker, O’Cyrus Torrence. Throw in the fact Georgia’s defensive front hasn’t quite been up to its usual otherworldly standards. It wasn’t unreasonable to think Florida could run the ball.

Nope.

The Gators went three-and-out on their first four possessions and punted on their first five. I don’t know how many yards it is from Jacksonville to New South Wales, Australia. But as often as Jeremy Crawshaw was punting, it seemed he might match the distance back to his home state.

Georgia outgained UF 186-16 in the first quarter. It had nine first downs to zero for UF. And not that the Bulldogs needed it, but they also got lucky.

Stetson Bennett IV threw a pass toward Brock Bowers, who was running stride for stride down the sideline with Amari Burney. Florida's linebacker reached back and tipped the ball. It bounded over his head and he couldn’t swat it down.

Bowers pirouetted and groped for the ball. After a couple of bobbles, he snatched it out of the air as Burney fell. The 73-yard reception made it 21-0 early in the second quarter. At that point, the 22½ point spread looked far too conservative.

“We challenged them at halftime,” Napier said, “and they certainly responded the right way.”

Georgia started turning the ball over and Anthony Richardson started finding receivers. The Gators cut it to 28-20, but it was just a sugar high for UF fans.

The Bulldogs stopped messing around and restored order. They can look ahead to a showdown with Tennessee and whatever glories follow.

For Florida, glory would now be winning two of its final four games to qualify for a bowl. They can leave Jacksonville knowing things could have been a lot worse.

“Today might have been a turning point to some degree,” Napier said, “relative to… what is really in there. What’s in your heart, your soul, between your ears.”

Ultimately, what really matters is what’s on the scoreboard. On Saturday, Florida did a half-point better than experts expected.

Baby steps forward.

It beats heading in the other direction. But Georgia showed how far the Gators have to go.

David Whitley is The Gainesville Sun's sports columnist. Contact him at dwhitley@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidEWhitley