Jake Fromm silences critics, Florida defense in Georgia’s win over Gators

Facing a ton of scrutiny, Jake Fromm delivers one of his greatest games for the Georgia Bulldogs to date, as they sink the rival Florida Gators.

People had given up on the Georgia Bulldogs. After what they did in their previous two games, there was reason to doubt the Dawgs heading into their annual affair with the archival Florida Gators down in Jacksonville. This was a big spot for true junior quarterback Jake Fromm to silence his critics and he did absolutely that in Georgia’s 24-17 win in the Cocktail Party.

Fromm’s two previous games left a lot to be desired. He threw three interceptions in the Dawgs’ unthinkable double-overtime home loss to the SEC East rival South Carolina Gamecocks. While the weather was a huge factor in Georgia’s home win over the Kentucky Wildcats, it wasn’t like Fromm played the part of a future first-round quarterback in the rain two weeks ago.

Florida was the No. 6 team in the land with the Gators’ only loss to the cross-divisional rival LSU Tigers. Georgia came in at No. 8 with a bad home loss to South Carolina. This border war was all about who was going to represent the SEC East in the SEC Championship Game. With the win in Jacksonville, Georgia controls its own destiny, as they now hold the tiebreaker over Florida.

Fromm completed 20 of 30 passes for 279 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He averaged a strong 9.3 yards per passing attempt and had three carries for 12 yards on the afternoon. Fromm never let the moment get too big for him. His head coach Kirby Smart had all the faith in his signal-caller to get it done. Fromm gave us one of the best games of his college career.

As usual, Fromm leaned on his Georgia rushing attack to help open passing lanes. Though it was not the best day for running back D’Andre Swift, he still had 25 carries for 86 yards on the ground. Nobody was bigger in the Georgia receiving game than graduate transfer Lawrence Cager, who had seven catches for 132 yards and a 52-yard touchdown, which decided the ballgame.

It didn’t matter that Fromm didn’t throw for 300 yards again. That’s not what makes him a special quarterback for the Georgia program. There were no turnovers in this game and Florida got a great performance out of its quarterback in Kyle Trask. Georgia could have put this game away by scoring touchdowns instead of kicking field goals, but the pressure never fazed Fromm.

So Georgia improves to 7-1 (4-1) on the year and in the driver’s seat in the SEC East. The Dawgs have three more conference games in the Missouri Tigers at home, the cross-divisional rival Auburn Tigers on the road down on The Plains and a rare meeting in Athens with the Texas A&M Aggies. Their path to Atlanta is right ahead of them. A win over Mizzou next week only helps.

Overall, this game was about who was going to play hero on the brightest stage of the week. Fromm iced the game with his 22-yard completion to tight end Eli Wolf on a third-and-7. This will go down as one of Fromm’s better throws of his Georgia career. The Dawgs can celebrate on the banks of the St. John’s River now but need to get ready for Mizzou at home next Saturday.

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