The Sunday Treatment and a Trip Around the Dawgosphere: UGA vs. UF

UGA 23 - UF 20. What a win! That's three in a row vs. the Gators, 4 of the last 7, and puts us at a 5-5 tie over the last decade in the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party (WLOCP). You can say what you will about any number of things: no points in the 2nd half, some seriously frustrating offensive play-calling, and some other real head-scratchers (how you gonna have 12 men on the field coming out of a TO?!), but you know what - who gives a sh*t? We won the dang thing, and it was a big, big win.

Looking at the numbers, here were the biggest things that stuck out to me on offense:

• UGA on 3rd downs: well north of 50% at 7 out of 12. That was simply huge, and obviously a heck of a lot better than last year's numbers (1 out of 11). 
•  Even though he came in with two wins against the reptiles, it was nice to see Aaron Murray finally have that killer performance that we've all been waiting to see:16 out of 25 (64%) for 258 yards with a TD and no INTs. Averaging 10 yards per throw with an impressive 163.89 QB rating.
• MVP of the game? Who was our leading rusher, receiver and scorer? No doubt about it: Todd Gurley. We most likely don't win without him. He's a DGD and one of the greatest players in college football right now.

• It was nice having Bennett back, wasn't it? All five of his catches were very important.

I was very proud of our defense. They rose to the occasion. For starters, it was their best scoring performance all season - lowest amount given up all year, even a point better than North Texas. Just as impressive - it was their 2nd best yardage performance of the season as well (North Texas). Also of note, the last three games have been three of the D's best with each week getting better than the previous. Sure, Florida's offense is pretty anemic, but still, a really good defensive performance for the Dawgs. And how about Garrison Smith? It was nice to see him really break out and have the type of game he did.

Special teams? They didn't cost us any points so we'll give them good marks as well.

And now for our Sunday tradition:

A Trip Around the Dawgosphere 

• Tyler over at GA Sports Blog: Sunday Morning Comes
• I'm thinking that the Senator was feeling pretty good last night: 3 in a row!
• Marc Weiszer over at the Athens paper does a good write-up about things especially the high emotions that were running.
• Seth Emerson, my favorite UGA beat writer, does his usual great job of summing things up. He mentions some hard truths, doesn't sugar coat, and keeps it real as always.
• The Mark Richt Victory Watch over at Dawgsports

And let's take a look at what the Gators are saying:

• Alligator Army: "Gators die hard in wild Cocktail Party"
• Gator Country's takes

So...our Dawgs are now 5-3 and still have a very faint glimmer of hope in the SEC east. A few questions: When might we see Conley on the field again? Will Gurley have to miss the 1st half of the App. State game? Will Aaron Murray finally break the SEC passing TD mark next week (he's now at 113 - one ties and two takes it)? How good, really, is Auburn?

So far I think 2013 is still a pretty good year. Wins against South Carolina, UT, LSU, and Florida. That's awesome! Where might we be without all of those injuries? Hell, who knows. But it doesn't matter. There's still so much to play for. If we could add AU and GT to the list of teams we've defeated this year and 2013 will go down as a great year. Let's continue to get healthy and play a good game against Appalachian State.

GO DAWGS!