JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo walked briskly through the EverBank Stadium press box after yet another come-from-behind victory on Saturday, shouting, "That's the way we like it -- down to the wire every time!"
The No. 5 Bulldogs' 24-20 victory over rival Florida proved to be more difficult than expected, but it was nothing new for a football team that has now trailed in the fourth quarter of four SEC games this season, winning three times.
"This team just won't go away," Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart said. "Another night in the SEC. I don't know what else is going on in the country right now, but when you play in this league, every game comes down to the last two possessions."
That has certainly been the case for the Bulldogs (7-1, 5-1 SEC), who survived to beat the Gators (3-5, 2-3 SEC) for the fifth straight time by making a critical fourth-down stop on defense and again being on the right side of a controversial replay ruling.
"I don't believe in playing with fire," said Smart, whose teams are 8-2 against Florida. "But if I could just write a script and say, 'Let's go up by 14, let's go up by 21.' I don't write the script. It plays out. I know that our kids are not uncomfortable playing from [behind].
"They don't get chained to a scoreboard. There's people that play chained to a scoreboard, and our guys are free of that, and they just play and keep chopping and keep chopping as the good things happen."
Florida, which was playing for the first time since coach Billy Napier was fired on Oct. 19, took a 20-17 lead on Trey Smack's 54-yard field goal with 14:52 to play. It was Smack's ninth field goal of 50 yards or more, breaking the Florida career record.
After the Gators forced a second straight three-and-out on defense, they drove down the field and had fourth-and-1 at the Georgia 18. Linebacker Raylen Wilson and defensive tackle Elijah Griffin stuffed Jadan Baugh for no gain with 7:54 to play.
"Obviously, critical play for us, but never going to second-guess it," Florida interim coach Billy Gonzales said. "We had to go for it. If you kick a field goal, you're still down. If they go down and score, you're still down a point. We will take a look and see where we went wrong, but no second-guessing as far as the play that was called."
After the big defensive stop, Georgia's offense finally responded. Quarterback Gunner Stockton converted a third-and-8 play with an 18-yard pass to Zachariah Branch. Four plays later, tailback Chauncey Bowens ran 36 yards for a touchdown, putting the Bulldogs in front 24-20 with 4:36 to go.
Georgia's defense nearly made a catastrophic mistake with less than 3 minutes remaining. On third-and-4 from the Florida 31, Gators quarterback DJ Lagway eluded pressure and rolled to his left. He threw down the field for receiver J. Michael Sturdivant, who slipped past the secondary and was wide open.
Lagway's pass was underthrown, and Sturdivant lost his footing at the Georgia 21 as he tried to make a catch. Officials ruled the ball hit the ground before Sturdivant hauled it in. After a lengthy replay review, officials upheld the call.
"I saw a wide-open guy [because] we had a busted coverage," Smart said. "We had a guy that's supposed to be in the half. He got the wrong signal and played the wrong defense. We had nobody back there. We were insanely lucky that, number one, he didn't score, and he didn't catch it."
It was reminiscent of a controversial replay ruling near the end of the first half in Georgia's 20-10 victory at Auburn on Oct. 11. Officials ruled that Tigers quarterback Jackson Arnold fumbled when Georgia linebacker CJ Allen punched the ball out on a third-and-goal play with 1:32 remaining in the half. Georgia defensive back Kyron Jones recovered the fumble.
While Tigers coach Hugh Freeze argued that the ball broke the plane of the goal line before the fumble, replay officials upheld the call. The Bulldogs outscored the Tigers 17-0 in the second half.
"I didn't see anything," Smart said of Sturdivant's attempted catch. "I don't know. I can't tell. That's their job."
Lagway threw incomplete on fourth down, giving the ball back to the Bulldogs with 3:13 to play.
Stockton could have scored a touchdown on a third-and-1 run but kneeled down at the 1-yard line. Florida was out of timeouts, and Stockton kneeled twice more to end the game.
Stockton completed 20 of 29 passes for 223 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
"He's a gamer," Smart said. "He plays better as the game goes on. I didn't think he played his best game. They did some good things defensively. They're really tight in coverage. We didn't run the ball as efficiently as we had in the past. That's every quarterback's best friend."
The victory was special for Stockton, whose grandfather, Lawrence Stockton, died of a heart attack in a parking lot outside of the stadium following the Bulldogs' 34-31 loss to the Gators on Oct. 30, 2010.
It was Gunner Stockton's only chance to play the Gators in Jacksonville; the game will be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium next season and Tampa's Raymond James Stadium in 2027 because of planned renovations at EverBank Stadium.
"Yeah, it means a lot," Stockton said. "My family, we have some history with this game. Unfortunately, I lost my granddad. But just coming into it, I had a lot of emotion. And I was just really excited just to be able to play in this game."
