Florida had the game exactly where it wanted it – up 20-17 in the fourth, in the red zone, and a yard from control – but a third-down stop on DJ Lagway and a stuffed Jadan Baugh on 4th-and-1 flipped everything. Georgia cashed the opening with a 36-yard Chauncey Bowens touchdown run and closed out a 24-20 win at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida, handing the Gators their fifth straight loss in the rivalry.

After Georgia opened with an 8-play TD drive (Gunner Stockton to Dillon Bell), Florida controlled most of the first half.

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The defense held the Bulldogs to just 65 yards over the next five possessions, forcing four punts and grabbing an interception. Lagway (15-of-24, 166 yards, 1 TD) answered early with a 40-yard strike to Eugene Wilson III to tie it and set up Trey Smack’s 22-yard field goal for a 10–7 lead.

Both offenses sputtered in a penalty-filled second quarter – including a Stockton false start for simulating the snap that pushed Georgia out of field-goal range and a Lagway slip-fumble that Florida recovered but led to a tying UGA kick before halftime. Florida also lost WR Dallas Wilson to injury.

The game swung back and forth after the break.

Stockton hit Noah Thomas from 22 yards (17–10 UGA), Baugh punched in a 2-yard equalizer after two Georgia DPIs, and Smack drilled a 54-yarder – his program-record ninth from 50+ and his 12th straight make – for a 20-17 Florida lead.

That set up the decisive sequence.

Florida drove to the Georgia 19 but was stopped inches short on third down and stuffed on fourth. The Bulldogs immediately went 75 yards, with Stockton (20-for-29, 223 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT) hitting Zachariah Branch twice on the march before Bowens housed the go-ahead run at 4:36. Florida had a shot as Lagway escaped left and spotted a wide-open J. Michael Sturdivant streaking toward the end zone, but the throw came up short and, after review, the spectacular effort was ruled incomplete.

An incompletion to Wilson III on fourth down ended the last real threat, and Georgia bled the clock after converting a 3rd-and-1 inside the Florida 5.

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With Vernell Brown III and Aidan Mizell out, Wilson III delivered a season-best nine receptions for 121 yards and the early TD, more than doubling his season yardage in one afternoon. The defense’s first-half surge and six total stops on Georgia’s next six possessions after the opening drive kept Florida in command until the late short-yardage miss.

Florida had multiple chances to finish – the 4th-and-1, the deep shot to Sturdivant, late situational defense – and came up inches or a throw short. The margin in Jacksonville remains razor-thin … the Gators just didn’t make the last play.

Next Up, Florida (3–5, 2–3 SEC) visits Kentucky on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET (SEC Network).