October 31, 2009 Week 9 · Regular Season Neutral site Belt defended

Florida defends the belt, 41–17, at a neutral site over Georgia.

Home · Defending Holder

FloridaAP No. 1 41

Away · Challenger

Georgia 17

AP poll, week 9: Georgia unranked at Florida No. 1 · No. 1 that week: Iowa. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Florida came in 296 days into reign #270, which began with a win over Oklahoma, with 7 defenses already behind it; this was its 8th defense. Florida went on to defend it 4 more times before Alabama took it on December 5, 2009, 331 days after the reign began.

For Georgia this was its 10th shot at the belt; it had held the belt 4 times before.

It was the 3rd of 5 belt games between the two; going in, Georgia led the belt series 2–0; all-time Georgia leads 3–2. Every meeting →

AI-Written

Recap

Florida dominated this defensive struggle from start to finish, with Tim Tebow and the Gators' offense striking early and often to establish control. The Gators scored on their first two possessions, with Tebow hitting Riley Cooper for touchdown passes of 22 and 29 yards in the first quarter to jump out to a 14-0 lead. Georgia managed to keep pace in the second quarter with a field goal and a touchdown pass from Joe Cox to Aron White, but Florida answered with a field goal and then Tebow's rushing touchdown to take a commanding 24-10 halftime lead. The second half saw Florida pull away decisively as Tebow added another rushing score in the third quarter, while Georgia's Joe Cox was plagued by turnovers, throwing three interceptions that crippled any comeback hopes and set up Florida's final defensive touchdown when Brandon Spikes returned a late interception for a score.

Tim Tebow's two first-quarter touchdown passes to Riley Cooper (22 and 29 yards) established Florida's early 14-0 advantage
Georgia's inability to stop the bleeding, with Joe Cox throwing three interceptions in the second half that led to Florida scoring opportunities
Tim Tebow's rushing touchdown in Q2 extending Florida's lead to 24-10 and effectively putting the game out of reach
Brandon Spikes' interception return for a touchdown in Q4 sealed Florida's dominant defensive performance and final margin of victory

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

FloridaGeorgia

Total yards374286

Rushing yards210121

Passing yards168190

First downs2216

3rd down conv.7/134/12

Turnovers04

Penalties–yards6–498–73

Time of possession19:1617:24

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 12:21	Florida	+22 yd	Tim Tebow pass complete to Riley Cooper for 22 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 12:21	Florida	+0 yd	Caleb Sturgis extra point GOOD.
Q1 10:15	Georgia	+20 yd	Joe Cox pass complete to Washaun Ealey for 20 yards to the Geo 42 for a 1ST down.
Q1 3:20	Florida	+29 yd	Tim Tebow pass complete to Riley Cooper for 29 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 3:20	Florida	+0 yd	Caleb Sturgis extra point GOOD.
Q2 13:45	Georgia	+49 yd	Blair Walsh 49 yard field goal GOOD.
Q2 10:40	Georgia	+26 yd	Joe Cox pass complete to Aron White for 26 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 10:40	Georgia	+0 yd	Blair Walsh extra point GOOD.
Q2 4:47	Florida	+56 yd	Caleb Sturgis 56 yard field goal GOOD.
Q2 4:47	Florida	+37 yd	Caleb Sturgis kickoff for 70 yards returned by Brandon Boykin for 37 yards to the Geo 37.
Q2 2:23	Georgia	+20 yd	Drew Butler punt for 61 yards, returned by Brandon James for 20 yards to the Fla 35.
Q2 1:32	Florida	+23 yd	Tim Tebow rush for 23 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 2:14	Florida	+20 yd	Tim Tebow pass complete to Riley Cooper for 20 yards to the Geo 45 for a 1ST down.
Q2 1:32	Florida	+0 yd	Caleb Sturgis extra point GOOD.
Q3 14:50	Georgia	+0 yd	Joe Cox pass intercepted by A.J. Jones at the Geo 19, returned for no gain to the Geo 19.
Q3 13:30	Florida	+5 yd	Tim Tebow rush for 5 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q3 13:30	Florida	+0 yd	Caleb Sturgis extra point GOOD.
Q3 6:17	Georgia	+4 yd	Joe Cox pass complete to Michael Moore for 4 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q3 6:17	Georgia	+0 yd	Blair Walsh extra point GOOD.
Q3 1:22	Georgia	+0 yd	Joe Cox pass intercepted by A.J. Jones at the Fla 37, returned for no gain to the Fla 37.
Q3 3:49	Georgia	+23 yd	Joe Cox pass complete to Tavarres King for 23 yards to the Geo 32 for a 1ST down.
Q4 11:54	Georgia	+0 yd	Joe Cox pass intercepted by Ryan Stamper at the Geo 29, returned for no gain to the Geo 29.
Q4 7:42	Florida	+44 yd	Caleb Sturgis 44 yard field goal GOOD.
Q4 6:24	Georgia	+5 yd	Logan Gray pass intercepted by Brandon Spikes at the Geo 5, returned for 5 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 6:24	Florida	+0 yd	Caleb Sturgis extra point GOOD.
Q4 6:06	Georgia	+33 yd	Richard Samuel rush for 33 yards to the Geo 48 for a 1ST down.
Q4 2:25	Florida	+49 yd	Mike Gillislee rush for 49 yards to the Geo 32 for a 1ST down.

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Florida

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Tim Tebow	15/21	164	7.8	2	0	86.7

Georgia

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Joe Cox	11/20	165	8.3	2	3	30.8
Logan Gray	0/3	0	0.0	0	1	0.0

Rushing

Florida

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Tim Tebow	18	85	4.7	2	23
Mike Gillislee	3	57	19.0	0	49
Jeff Demps	5	31	6.2	0	9
Emmanuel Moody	7	26	3.7	0	12
Chris Rainey	4	12	3.0	0	6
Brandon James	1	1	1.0	0	1

Georgia

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Washaun Ealey	17	70	4.1	15
Richard Samuel	6	40	6.7	33
Caleb King	5	19	3.8	6
Joe Cox	4	-3	-0.8	10
Logan Gray	1	-5	-5.0	0

Receiving

Florida

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Riley Cooper	4	78	19.5	2	29
Aaron Hernandez	3	29	9.7	0	17
David Nelson	3	26	8.7	0	12
Deonte Thompson	3	17	5.7	0	11
Brandon James	1	10	10.0	0	10
Jeff Demps	1	4	4.0	0	4

Georgia

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
A.J. Green	3	50	16.7	0	19
Tavarres King	2	29	14.5	0	23
Aron White	1	26	26.0	1	26
Washaun Ealey	1	20	20.0	0	20
Rantavious Wooten	1	18	18.0	0	18
Orson Charles	2	18	9.0	0	11
Michael Moore	1	4	4.0	1	4

Show more stats (5 more categories)

Interceptions

Florida

Player	INT	YDS	TD
A.J. Jones	2	0	0
Brandon Spikes	1	5	1
Ryan Stamper	1	0	0

Georgia

No recorded stats in this category.

Kick Returns

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Brandon James	1	19	19.0	19	0

Georgia

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Brandon Boykin	6	114	19.0	37	0
Branden Smith	1	15	15.0	15	0

Kicking

Florida

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Caleb Sturgis	2/2	100.0	56	5/5	11

Georgia

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Blair Walsh	1/1	100.0	49	2/2	5

Punt Returns

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Brandon James	2	31	15.5	20	0

Georgia

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Prince Miller	1	0	0.0	0	0

Punting

Florida

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Chas Henry	3	145	48.3	0	0	61

Georgia

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Drew Butler	4	210	52.5	0	0	61

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 293040057) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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