JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Georgia's stay atop the Southeastern Conference in rushing defense was brief.
The Bulldogs entered Saturday's showdown with Florida allowing 99.2 rushing yards per game, but the Gators pounded out 231 yards on the ground in their 34-31 overtime win. Backup quarterback Trey Burton had 110 yards on 17 carries, while tailback Chris Rainey returned from a five-game suspension and added 84 yards on 16 carries.
"Trey Burton played phenomenal," Florida coach Urban Meyer said. "We had five big plays, which is something that has been nonexistent. It was great to see Chris Rainey back. It was great to see Jeff Demps. He was not at 100 percent, but he battled."
A bulk of Burton's total occurred with 6:56 left in regulation, when he took the snap out of Wildcat formation and raced 51 yards for a touchdown that put the Gators up 31-24. Burton started up the middle before cutting right into open field for the longest run of his career.
Burton also completed two passes for 26 yards and made five receptions from John Brantley for 35 yards.
"Any time you run a quarterback 11-on-11, if someone gets out of the gap, there is no depth in the defense, and a 3- or 4-yarder can become a 50-yarder," Bulldogs defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said. "We kept fighting and grinding and got it back even, and we held them there at the end of regulation. I was proud of their effort, and I think we can learn from this."
Said cornerback Brandon Boykin: "That quarterback they had, number 8, we knew his capabilities. He was a threat at a lot of positions."
Rainey had a long run of 20 yards, while Demps had a 16-yard best. The return of Florida's prominent offensive components aided Brantley, who has struggled most of the season but completed 16 of 25 passes for 193 yards against the Bulldogs.
Florida had an open date before facing Georgia and made the necessary tweaks, as the Gators racked up 450 total yards.
"I don't think they were going at that kind of pace in all of their games," Georgia head coach Mark Richt said. "One of the things they were doing was starting with someone at the quarterback position besides Brantley. I don't know if they did it before, but they would start with number 8 in the backfield and shift Brantley back in there. You had to go from your Wildcat checks back to your normal checks, and it took us a while to get the hang of that.
"They did a good job of mixing up of who was at quarterback. We felt like they would run the ball a lot, which they did. At times it didn't matter what we did. They still got some big plays out of it."
Jordan Reed also played quarterback and had three runs for 19 yards.
Georgia got a scare 37 seconds into the game when inside linebacker and leading tackler Akeem Dent suffered a shoulder stinger, but he returned midway through the first quarter. The Bulldogs did make six tackles for loss, and cornerback Branden Smith returned from a concussion and snagged an interception.
"I thought we did a good job of understanding what was going on during the game," Grantham said. "I think that showed up a little more in the second half."