Georgia went from Stetson Bennett to D'Wan Mathis back to Bennett and back to Mathis at quarterback during Saturday's 44-28 loss to Florida in Jacksonville.
Bennett helped the Bulldogs establish an early 14-0 lead, but he sustained a AC sprain in his right shoulder after getting hit during his 32-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint that provided the Bulldogs their two-touchdown lead. He went into the locker room late in the first quarter and was replaced by Mathis, but Bennett returned to the field and went back in midway through the second quarter.
When Bennett was intercepted in the third quarter, Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart decided to play Mathis the rest of the way.
"I thought Stetson did some good things early, and then he took a hit," Smart said. "He wanted to keep playing. He came in and got a shot and was able to come back, but I didn't think he was real effective. He was timid with it and didn't have great accuracy, so we decided to go with D'Wan.
"I thought D'Wan did some good things. He made some mistakes, but he gained some experience."
One who doesn't have any experience this season for the Bulldogs is Southern California transfer JT Daniels, and Smart hinted that may not be changing any time soon.
"Right now, we feel like they're the two that give us the better shot because they've got more of a body of work," Smart said. "I don't think it's a thing anymore with JT's knee, because he doesn't wear a brace anymore. He takes reps with the scout team and moves around and gives us a really good look.
"I think he's still growing and getting better in the offense."
AP photo by John Raoux / Florida wide receiver Justin Shorter runs to the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown catch against Georgia on Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla. Florida won 44-28 to take control of the SEC East standings.Wheel routes
Florida piled up plenty of its 571-yard total against the Bulldogs on wheel routes.
"When you're making a game plan, you want to try to find as many mismatches as you can," Florida quarterback Kyle Trask said. "We were having some good success with the running backs on their linebackers. We just tried to take advantage of it."
Trask threw for 474 yards, including 412 through the first three quarters.
"It was a great thing by them," Bulldogs cornerback Eric Stokes said. "They already knew some of our tips and some of the things that we were going to. We've got to fix some problems for next week."
Said Smart: "What I can't live with is leaving a guy wide open on a wheel route. That's your job to look at him, and somehow you don't look at him, and he's wide open."
Odds and ends
Rosemy-Jacksaint, a freshman from Pompano Beach, Florida, injured an ankle on his touchdown and spent the second half watching from the sidelines on crutches. ... Smart believes freshman running back Kendall Milton has a slight MCL sprain but wasn't positive. ... Stokes had a 36-yard interception return for a touchdown to give the Bulldogs their last lead at 21-14, but Georgia fell to 13-1 under Smart in games in which the Bulldogs collect a nonoffensive score. ... Zamir White's 75-yard touchdown on the game's first play from scrimmage marked his seventh straight game with a rushing score.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.