Minus Brock Bowers, Georgia football shows its more than a one-man band in drilling Gators

JACKSONVILLE—The Georgia football team was running out the clock in the final minute of a not-as-close-as-the-score-indicated 43-20 win over rival Florida Saturday, when a familiar voice let out a scream in the EverBank Stadium press box on his way out.

“Yeahhhhhhh!!!!!!” Mike Bobo screamed for all to hear.

The Bulldogs offensive coordinator knows what the rivalry against the Gators means as a player and longtime assistant.

The thumping came without injured Brock Bowers, the all-everything tight end. Georgia still averaged 7.4 yards per play, its most since 2017 against the Gators.

More: No. 1 Georgia football storms past Florida in dominating fashion to stay unbeaten

More: High grades after Georgia football thrashes Florida. Who did we give highest marks to?

In case anyone forgot, Georgia showed the nation and the College Football Playoff Committee that will put out its first rankings on Tuesday that it is much more than a one-man band.

“We’re still here,” defensive lineman Zion Logue said. “Next man up. That’s all I’ve got to say about that.”

The last time Georgia played a game without Bowers it was still living through a four-decade drought since it won a national championship.

That was the Peach Bowl against Cincinnati in Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Jan. 1, 2021.

Georgia entered Saturday with a 24-game winning streak.

Florida offensive lineman Austin Barber had this to say before the game: “24-0 is great, but they have to come play us.”

Now it’s 25.

“Coach (Kirby) Smart challenged all of us, everybody, to be 5% better,” safety Javon Bullard said. “

Inside linebacker Smael Mondon, who had a big fourth-down stop, said the mindset of the defense was “to keep it pushing,” with the offense missing Bowers.

“I told people this offense, it’s not built around one player,” Smart said. “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.”

Oscar Delp, that next man up at tight end, made a leaping catch on Georgia’s first drive looking Bowers-like, but he had just two catches for 31 yards on two targets.

Wide receiver Ladd McConkey, who missed the first four games of the season with a back injury, had his best game of the season with six catches for 135 yards and a touchdown.

Running back Daijun Edwards rushed for 95 yards and two touchdowns, and the offensive line didn’t give up a sack on a day Carson Beck passed for 315 yards and two touchdowns in his return to his hometown of Jacksonville.

Bowers, less than two weeks after TightRope surgery for a high ankle sprain, watched on the sideline wearing shorts and his No. 19 jersey. He wasn’t using crutches.

“For one person to fill his void, that can’t happen,” McConkey said. “Brock is arguably the best player in the nation. I felt everyone had to up their game 5%.”

The defense gave up a touchdown on the first drive but then shut out the Gators until the fourth quarter.

“We’re kind of getting used to that,” Smart said referencing giving up touchdowns on the first drive to Vanderbilt and South Carolina.

Smart said Georgia knew if it could control the run game, it would slow down the Gators’ passing game.

It did that with four first-half sacks and a forced fumble.

Smart credited the defensive staff for the pressure by adding a call it hadn’t used all year.

“We didn’t just do the same thing we always do,” he said. “I think there was one call where we got maybe two tackles for loss and maybe a sack.”

The special teams got a blocked punt from Joenel Aguero for a safety.

Florida was held to 22 rushing yards on 14 carries and had 109 on 25 for the game.

Bowers had 400 yards after the catch of his 567 receiving yards, according to Pro Football Focus.

“We have plenty of players who can make explosive plays,” Beck said.

McConkey certainly did in a game he had 78 yards after the catch including a nifty change of direction on his 45-yard touchdown.

“I think it came at the right time, right?" Smart said. “With Brock out, Ladd had to step up and make plays. We’ve got to keep him healthy because he’s such a weapon.”

Georgia was a 14 ½-point favorite, but former Florida coach Steve Spurrier and ex-Gators wide receiver Chris Doering picked Florida to win.

So did former Florida coach Dan Mullen, who Smart may have been referencing when he said this: “All these people predicting that we’re not going to win today. I’m just like golly, where’s that coming from? Supposed to be my friend. He didn’t like to recruit, though, so it gets him.”

Georgia made a statement about the team it has around Bowers. There are more tough games to come as the Bulldogs try to keep their winning roll going for however long until Bowers returns.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: The mindset Georgia football used to make up for Brock Bowers' absence