Stop me if you’ve heard this one.

This afternoon the Georgia Bulldogs sashayed into EverBank Field in Jacksonville as a solid favorite against a flailing Florida team. They proceeded to come within a whisper of losing to that flailing Florida team over and over again.

Georgia had more penalties than the Gators and for more yardage (though frankly a couple of those were..interesting). The Bulldogs lost the turnover battle (albeit 1-0). And the Red and Black gave up big plays at terrible times to squander otherwise solid defensive efforts. When Jim Donnan and Mark Richt stalked the Bulldog sideline the above would have been a solid description of more than one Bulldog loss in the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.

But as in so many other ways, things have turned out differently under Kirby Smart. No, this Kirby Smart coached team made enough plays down the stretch and held on to secure a fifth straight win along the banks of the St. John’s River, triumphing over the Gators 24-20.

Bulldog fans actually got exactly what they wanted to start the game. The Bulldog offense came out and marched down the field on an 8 play, 75 yard touchdown drive culminating in a Gunner Stockton touchdown pass to Dillon Bell. The Bulldog defense then turned around and forced a the Gators to punt after four plays. It looked like the Red and Black might have finally found the recipe for a fast start and a relaxing second half fan experience.

But it was not to be. Georgia faltered on its second drive, and the Bulldog secondary surrendered a 40 yard touchdown on the Gators’ first offensive play of the ensuing possession. A tipped Gunner Stockton pass to Noah Thomas was intercepted, the Gators turned it into a go-ahead field goal, and the fight was on.

It’s never, ever easy in Jacksonville. Even when the Athenians are leading, even when it feels like the Gators couldn’t score if you gave them the ball on the 1 and their offensive line matching machetes, even when Florida is foundering, floundering, and completely in disarray, it just can’t be easy.

For the seventeenth (twenty-first? Fiftieth?) game in a row Georgia sputtered in the early going and went to the half with a brawl on their hands. And for about the fifteenth ?twenty-third? Forty-eight?) time in that stretch the Classic City Canines found just enough to pull out the victory.

After seemingly finding a solid offensive line rotation and learning how to run the ball down opponents’ throats again, the Bulldogs struggled for much of the day to find a consistent ground game. Georgia finished with 138 yards rushing on 39 attempts, for a mildly anemic 3.5 yards per carry. The Dawgs managed only two runs of more than 10 yards (both by Chauncey Bowens, both in the 4th quarter).Against a Gator defense ranked 7th in the SEC in rushing defense that’s pretty disappointing.

Gunner Stockton’s day wasn’t particularly impressive either. The interception wasn’t strictly his fault, for while the ball was slightly behind Thomas it was still catchable. However the big difference from the Ole Miss game was on the ground, where Stockton’s 13 carries for 11 yards was a season low. He simply never could get into the open field against a Gator defense that pursued to the ball hard. But Gunner also looked a bit tentative at times when he did take off, something that Georgia just can’t afford.

There were also some vintage Mike Bobo, too smart by half play calls, like a draw on 2nd and 21 that felt like it was designed to go to Carlton Thomas if only he had some eligibility left. Thank goodness, yet again, for Zachariah Branch, whose blazed for 112 yards on 10 catches, including a critical 18 yard third down reception that paved the way for Chauncey Bowens’ go-ahead 33 yard touchdown jaunt.

How much can we read into this one? Not much. This Florida team clearly has more talent than its 3-5 record would lead one to believe, which is why Billy Napier spent this week playing golf and cleaning out his garage rather than preparing to face the Bulldogs. And as mentioned on the broadcast, Florida assistants Ryan O’Hara and Russ Callaway had some wrinkles they thought would be useful against the Bulldog defense. Which they were, right up until they weren’t anymore. Ultimately this was a close, hard-fought rivalry game, just like any honest observer knew it would be.

In the end the Bulldogs won their fifth game in a row in Jacksonville for the first time since 1983. That’s something to celebrate. I hate losing to the Gators. But I love beating the Gators more than any other team on the Bulldog schedule. I’d rather beat those jort-wearing pseudo-Yankees ugly than win pretty over anyone else in America. I’d watch Georgia beat them every week if I could.

Just kidding. Watching the Georgia/Florida game every week would be a solid working definition of Hell for me. Because nothing in Jacksonville ever comes easy. And there was never any reason to expect this year to be any different. Until later…