BULLDOGS

By ROBBIE ANDREUSun sports writer

Florida defensive end Jarvis Moss causes a Georgia fumble during the third quarter Saturday at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville. Photos by TRACY WILCOX/The Gainesville Sun
Urban Meyer stood at the podium underneath Alltel Stadium early Saturday evening looking and sounding like the losing coach in the Florida-Georgia game.He was bemoaning an offense that went stagnant in the second half and was visibly distraught over a rash of penalties, turnovers and other assorted offensive blunders that put his team on the brink of self-destruction.He was Mr. Negative - and the No. 9 Gators had just beaten the Bulldogs 21-14 before 84,572 to move to 7-1 and take command of the SEC's Eastern Division race."My wife is going to smack me in the mouth when I get home for complaining about this," Meyer said.Meyer could not help himself because the Gators nearly let this one slip away after leading 21-0 early in the second half and having to hang on for the victory in the closing minutes."We've got a lot of work to do and we're going to start immediately. We're going to start tonight," he said. "We're going to get this right. We have a lot of issues."Finally, Meyer lightened up when a writer put things in perspective for the head coach:"Despite the concerns on offense, your team remains in position for some really nice things if it can play well down the stretch. Southern Cal lost today. You're moving up (in the BCS Standings), you're in the mix (for the SEC championship and possibly the national title)."That comment brought a winning smile to Meyer's face."I appreciate that," Meyer said. "I feel better now. For the first time, you guys have cheered me up. I appreciate that."Despite all that went wrong (mostly with the offense) in the second half, the Gators won the game and now are two victories away (against Vanderbilt on the road and South Carolina at home) from winning UF's first division title since 2000. The win, coupled with the Trojans' loss, has the Gators inching back into contention in the national title hunt as well."We are officially playing for the SEC East championship now," Meyer said.And, for the Gators, that feels good no matter how bad this performance went against Georgia at times."It feels good to control your own destiny," senior outside linebacker Earl Everett said. "We don't need to depend on another team doing something for us like the past few years. It's in our hands."It almost escaped from their grasp Saturday.Two second-half turnovers (a Chris Leak interception and a Tim Tebow fumble) led to two Georgia touchdowns and the Gators suddenly found themselves leading only 21-14 after tailback Kregg Lumpkin scored on a 9-yard run with 8:17 left in the game.The UF defense, which dominated for most of the day, made the lead hold up and the offense did its part in the closing seconds when DeShawn Wynn ran for six yards on third-and-four from the UF 46 that allowed the Gators to run out the final 90 seconds.The final outcome softened some of the Florida negatives - and there were plenty.A block in the back penalty wiped out a 66-yard punt return for a touchdown by true freshman Brandon James in the first half.In the second half, the offense sputtered and stalled, and place-kicker Chris Hetland missed two field goals (39 and 42 yards) that could have put the game out of reach.The Gators also killed themselves with 10 penalties in the game.Perhaps the biggest negative was the inept performance of the offense in the second half. For the second game in a row, the UF offense was shut out in the second half."We'll just have to sit down and watch the film and figure it out," Tebow said. "We'll just work it out and try to execute better. We have to buckle down and fix it."The offense would offer many thanks to the Florida defense after this one.The Gators came up with four turnovers - including one for a touchdown on the first offensive play of the second half - and held the Bulldogs to 64 yards rushing and 215 total yards."Thank God for great defense," Meyer said. "That was a great effort by our defense. They held a talented Georgia team and a young quarterback (Matthew Stafford) who is going to be tremendous to only 215 yards of offense. Our defense played very hard tonight."The UF offense started strong Saturday but then self-destructed in the second half.Florida scored on the game's opening possession on a 12-yard run by junior wide receiver Andre Caldwell.The Gators went up 14-0 with a 40-yard pass from Leak to Caldwell with 9:37 left to play in the second quarter.On the first offensive play of the second half, Lumpkin was stripped of the ball by end Derrick Harvey and UF defensive tackle Ray McDonald returned it nine yards for a touchdown. At that point, it was 21-0 and it appeared Florida was heading for an easy victory.It didn't happen that way.Turnovers gave the momentum to the 'Dogs in the second half and they got right back into the game."I don't feel good about this," Georgia coach Mark Richt said. "I don't enjoy losing to the Gators. But I will say this, when most teams would lie down and die, this team didn't. We've got some guys with great character. I'm proud of them and proud to be a Bulldog."Despite the shaky second half, it's good to be a Gator today, too.The division title is within reach."It hasn't happened in a long time," said Caldwell, who accounted for 116 total yards and both offensive touchdowns. "It feels good that we might be playing for a championship. We have a lot of improvement to make, though we'll go week by week."