In the days since Georgia’s fourth win in a row against Florida, a familiar refrain has popped up all over the socials and message boards:

First, let me start by saying I don’t welcome an opponent’s injury. I hate it for him, and honestly don’t know how it happened with the severity to which it happened. Quite the contrary, I wanted a healthy Lagway all game long to prevent bullshit like this from happening for the rest of the year. Mind you, had the result stayed the same, the new excuse would be “if we had Mertz”, but I digress.

We’ve heard this one before, haven’t we? Metchie and Williams…Harrison, Jr….now Lagway. It’s amazing to me that somehow it could be surmised that Lagway’s one completion that resulted in a score was going to be duplicated over and over again. I’d argue that, until that one play, the Florida’s offense looked genuinely inept. The run game wasn’t doing much, and it seemed that those numerous runs into nothingness were repeated to set up a deep ball play, which caught Starks off guard and resulted in a quick score after a TO.

I’ll agree, Florida had the momentum at that moment. It’s a dangerous place to be, in a rivalry game, against a team full of hope that had been dripping away slowly until a turnover and a quick score. The play was as predictable as possible, go big right after a turnover, but somehow we were flatfooted and it worked. It also worked in giving the Handbags the belief that Georgia was going to be rendered asunder because of one bad play. If they feel like they were rattling Beck, they haven’t watched enough Georgia film this year to realize that can happen when we’re up 28 or down 28. Honestly, it was what it was for Georgia football in 2024. But a sure win? Hardly. Prior to the interception and ensuing Florida touchdown, I was honestly starting to settle in to the idea that we might win by fifty points. The receivers were wide open, Beck was hitting folks in stride, the run game was working, and Florida couldn’t move the ball. Then, suddenly, everything flip-flopped, which is how the game goes, sometimes.

Honestly, the fans should be mad at the equipment staff, because Lagway wasn’t the only one having tread issues. The Florida running backs were likewise slipping to the ground, and I caught a few defenders following suite, but I didn’t see the same turf issues with Georgia. Will the Florida faithful try to lure another Georgia staffer away to take care of their cleats? That is, when they’re not throwing them through the air as they throw their season and coach’s career into the toilet?

Of course, there’s the whole other aspect (in another post today) that Florida’s best QB1 could have been ready to play, but was instead sitting on the bench on the Georgia sideline, and likely way happier there than on the field with the Gators. Just ask their actual backup quarterback, Aidan Warner, who looked like he had just been interrupted from burning ants with a magnifying glass while on the Florida sideline when he finally got the call he’d hoped never would happen.

Or, he was scared sh*tless, either way, the Florida faithful hasn’t a need to whine about rosters and depth. They were built by the Portal Master himself, and further fortified by the greatest recruiter to ever know the state of Louisiana, Billy Napier.

At any rate, the narrative that Georgia won because Lagway was hurt is bullshit. I can’t help but think (insert common Alabama excuse here) that the ‘Dawgs defense took a step down on the throttle when they saw Warner come on to the field, throw a hapless pass, and assumed this one was in the bag. Meanwhile, Sigmund Freud was on the sideline trying to get Jekyll and Hyde to figure out what’s happening on the offense, which we found out soon enough and recovered in the fourth. I happen to think the defensive intensity would’ve been a tad higher, and the offensive focus maybe likewise, and Georgia would possibly win by a wider margin had Lagway remained and the team had to collectively keep the petal to the floor for a full four quarters.

Of course, we’ll never know, because Georgia plays dirty (we apparently employ the turf to play for us, he’s a 4.5 billion-year redshirt senior…other teams just employs the referees), Florida was the only team in the SEC dealing with injuries to starters, and, of course, because Florida is the epitome of class, culture, and athletic ethics. Only a state with a Disney World in it could possibly drum up that fantastic and whimsical of a story for anyone to believe.

As Elsa would say, “let it go”, Gators. A group of seniors are about to be recognized in a couple weeks never having lost to Florida. As far as they’re concerned, Jacksonville and Athens are “the happiest place on earth”.

FTMFs.