Georgia gets third-straight win over Florida in rivalry
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jake Fromm was a little late to the after-party.
He was in the third and final wave of Georgia players leaping into the stands at the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party."
It was a fitting spot for Fromm considering how effective he's been on third down against Florida.
Fromm threw for 279 yards and two touchdowns, including a 52-yarder to an uncovered Lawrence Cager in the fourth quarter, and the No. 8 Bulldogs beat the sixth-ranked Gators 24-17 on Saturday.
It was Georgia's third consecutive victory in the Southeastern Conference rivalry and sixth in the last nine years.
Fromm was the main reason for the last two. He has five touchdown passes in two years against Florida, with four of them coming on third down.
"When Jake has time, he's really efficient," Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. "I was so proud of him this game."
Fromm's most important throw came on a third-and-7 play with a little more than 2 minutes remaining. The Gators (7-2, 4-2) rallied twice to make it a one-score game in the final quarter, and Fromm needed one more completion to end any chance of a comeback.
He found tight end Eli Wolf for a 22-yard gain. Game over.
"We had the belief the whole game that we just needed the one stop, and we didn't get that unfortunately," Florida linebacker David Reese said.
Fromm completed 20 of 30 passes, including one to Dominick Blaylock for a 3-yard score on third down in the first quarter.
Fromm struggled in his last two games, both at home, but played considerably better against Florida for the second straight season.
"There's been a lot of outside noise, and this has been a challenge to our guys to not listen to the outside noise but to really gel within our locker room," Fromm said. "To come out and respond and play the way we did today, it really shows what our guys are made of, their hearts and what we mean to each other."
Cager finished with seven receptions for 132 yards, both career highs.
D'andre Swift added 86 yards rushing to help Georgia (7-1, 4-1) move a step closer to winning the SEC'S Eastern Division for the third consecutive year and strengthen their College Football Playoff resume.
The Gators, who now need lots of help to win the East, looked lost on both sides of the ball most of the afternoon.
Florida abandoned an ineffective ground game early, and its defense got little pressure on Fromm — even with disruptive pass-rushers Jon Greenard and Jabari Zuniga back for the first time in weeks.
"The only people we can be disappointed with are ourselves because they didn't do anything we didn't expect them to do," said Trask, who completed 21 of 33 passes for 257 yards and two scores.
Trask gave his team life down the stretch. He escaped a collapsing pocket and found Van Jefferson for a 23-yard touchdown pass and later found Freddie Swain in the flat to make it seven-point game with 3:11 remaining.
But Fromm and Wolf closed it out.
"It was amazing, amazing," Swift said. "We're an elite team on third down and we got to show it today."
Third downs proved to be the difference. Georgia converted 12 of 18 chances on the all-important down; Florida was 2 of 9.
"Needed to stay on the field better on offense and get off the field better on defense," Florida coach Dan Mullen said.
Auburn 20, Ole Miss 14
AUBURN, Ala. — Bo Nix passed for a career-high 340 yards and had a 1-yard touchdown and No. 11 Auburn held off Ole Miss.
The Tigers (7-2, 4-2 Southeastern Conference) mostly dominated on the stat sheet but struggled to put the 19-point underdogs away after repeated stalled drives and three missed field goals. Anders Carlson's third miss, a 47-yarder with 1:14 to play, gave Ole Miss (36, 2-4) a shot at a winning drive.
The Rebels, who had no timeouts left, quickly moved from their 31 into Auburn territory. Plumlee hit Braylon Sanders for an 18yard pass and then ran 20 yards.
Finally on fourth-and-3 from the 35, Plumlee scrambled around and made a desperation heave under pressure. Christian Tutt intercepted the ball and raced most of the way to the other end zone. And Auburn, which was coming off a 23-20 loss at No. 1 LSU, managed to survive.
Nix completed 30 of 44 passes, including a 78-yarder to Harold Joiner that set up Auburn's first touchdown. Fellow freshman D.J. Williams got most of his 24 carries and 93 yards in the second half. Anthony Schwartz gained 89 yards on nine catches, including a 50-yarder.
Plumlee led the Rebels on a 15-play, 91yard touchdown march late to cut it to one score. Jerrion Ealy burst outside on fourthand-1 from the 5 to set up Snoop Conner's 1-yard run with 5:45 left. Auburn was flagged for two personal fouls on the drive.
Then Nix answered in the battle of freshman quarterbacks with a drive that included three passes for first downs and worked most of the clock down.
Auburn coach Gus Malzahn called a timeout with 1:20 left facing fourth-and-2 from the 30. Carlson's potential clinching kick went wide right.
Auburn outgained the Rebels 507-266 in total yards but couldn't convert much of that production into points. Carlson did make kicks of 20 and 38 yards.
South Carolina 24, Vanderbilt 7
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Ryan Hilinski was 24-for-31 for 235 yards and Bryan Edwards caught a school record 14 passes as South Carolina beat Vanderbilt.
With receiver Shi Smith out injured, Edwards shouldered the offensive load for the Gamecocks (4-5, 3-4 Southeastern).
The senior sealed the win with a 25-yard touchdown catch midway through the fourth quarter. Edwards led South Carolina with a career best 139 yards receiving and his 14 catches matched four others for the school record — the last being Deebo Samuel in 2016. Edwards' 38-yard punt return late in the third quarter flipped the field a defensive struggle.
Freshman Deshaun Fenwick got his first action of 2019, running 18 times for 102 yards.
Texas A&M 45, UTSA 14
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — When Texas A&M fell behind by a touchdown early against UTSA, the Aggies needed something to get them going quickly.
They got it in a 60-yard touchdown run by Isaiah Spiller on the first play of the next drive and the freshman's big day helped the Aggies to a win.
Spiller set season highs with 217 yards rushing and three touchdowns to lead the Aggies to their third straight victory and make them bowl eligible for the 11th straight season.
The Aggies (6-3) were up by 14 when a 50yard touchdown run by Spiller made it 28-7 early in the third quarter. Spiller padded the lead on an 8-yard run later in the third quarter on a drive where he had a 42-yard run.
Kellen Mond threw for 211 yards and a touchdown, and his 1-yard TD run on the first drive of the fourth quarter made it 42-7. He was replaced on A&M'S next drive with the Aggies in control of the game.
Tennessee 30, UAB 7
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Bryce Thompson tied a Tennessee single-game record by intercepting three passes as Tennessee capitalized on UAB mistakes to trounce the Blazers.
Tennessee (4-5) has won three of its last four games to bounce back from a 1-4 start. The Volunteers snapped UAB'S three-game win streak and became the first team to exceed the 20-point mark against the Blazers (6-2) all season.
Thompson became the ninth different Tennessee player to intercept three passes in a game. He was the first Volunteer to accomplish that feat since Deon Grant did it in a 24-0 victory over Auburn in 1999.