ATHENS, Ga. - All Georgia's defense has done the past four games is merely reflect the obvious: Ole Miss and Tennessee are much more explosive offensively than South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
After getting torched 45-16 at Ole Miss on Sept. 24, when Chad Kelly quarterbacked the Rebels to 501 yards in the first three quarters, the Bulldogs yielded three touchdown passes the next week to Josh Dobbs, including a 43-yarder as time expired in Tennessee's 34-31 triumph. Georgia made South Carolina one-dimensional in a 28-14 victory on Oct. 9, and the Bulldogs held the Commodores to 171 yards six days later but couldn't capitalize in a 17-16 upset loss.
So have the Bulldogs (4-3, 2-3 SEC) gotten better defensively entering this week's game against No. 14 Florida (5-1, 3-1) in Jacksonville, or has it been more about Georgia's foes?
"I think it's always hard to gauge," Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. "When you base things on stats, that's what can mislead you. I think you have to substantiate it some kind of way, and we've tried to do that through less missed tackles. We've also had less plays. We didn't have many plays against Vanderbilt, so less plays should have less missed tackles, because there are less opportunities to tackle.
"We try to look at it from a statistical standpoint, but at the end of the day it comes with practice, and you have to go by practice. I feel like, because you see practice every day, those defensive players have improved."
Georgia has been very effective against the run after struggling in its 33-24 opening win over North Carolina. The Bulldogs allowed just 95 rushing yards to Missouri, 127 against Tennessee, 30 to South Carolina and 62 against Vanderbilt.
The Gators rushed for a staggering 418 yards two years ago in a 38-20 thumping at EverBank Field and added another 258 in last year's 27-3 rout, but the Bulldogs enter this year's matchup third among SEC teams in run defense, allowing 111.1 yards a game.
"Our defense, as a whole, is coming together," sophomore inside linebacker Natrez Patrick said after the win at South Carolina. "Guys are learning the plays and knowing where to go, and I just feel like we're all getting better. I think you're seeing us start to stop the run, and that kind of helps level everything out."
While Georgia has improved against the run after allowing 149.5 yards per game last season, the Bulldogs have backtracked significantly in pass defense. They led the nation a year ago in that category (yielding 156.5 yards per game) - facing the triple-option offenses of Georgia Southern and Georgia Tech last November aided that stat - but this year's defense is surrendering 228.6 yards aerial per game, ranking eighth in the SEC.
Georgia gave up 288 passing yards to South Carolina's Perry Orth, who is now the third-string quarterback for the Gamecocks, and held Vanderbilt's Kyle Shurmur to 109 yards on 7-of-18 passing. Shurmur ranks 13th in the conference in efficiency.
"I think we've just had to go back to the basics and focus on reading our keys and being very disciplined," senior safety Quincy Mauger said this week. "The thing we need to focus on now is making big plays. The defense that makes the most plays usually wins the game, so that's what we're going to try and do."
The Bulldogs did not collect any turnovers against the Commodores but do have 15 this season, which is third behind Texas A&M (19) and Alabama (16) within the SEC.
Georgia has crept up in most statistical categories this month, though the Bulldogs also rank last in the league in red-zone defense. Opponents have moved inside Georgia's 20-yard line on 22 occasions and come away with 21 scores, including 16 touchdowns.
"I definitely think we've improved," redshirt junior outside linebacker Davin Bellamy said. "Coming into this year, we knew we had a young defense and that we didn't want to make that an excuse. We knew there would be some learning curves because we had new coaches, and we just knew that it was going to be a process.
"The biggest place I can see it is in the confidence. A lot of guys are playing faster, and we're playing more as a unit. We're playing with more energy because we're playing with more confidence."
Smart sees some defensive improvement, too, and this week's test will reveal more tangible evidence that either will or won't be to his liking.
"We've definitely improved on our execution," Smart said. "Some of that could be because we're seeing less stuff, but at the end of the day, we've tried to simplify and play fast and get guys to play the right way. The numbers have shown that's been a help, but we've also probably played guys that were not as good offensively."
Odds and ends
The Bulldogs worked out Tuesday for two hours. Sophomore defensive end Jonathan Ledbetter, who was suspended for the first six games, could start Saturday depending on the personnel grouping, according to Smart. Smart when asked Tuesday if losing several games is a different feeling for him: "I coached at the Dolphins."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.