Georgia could spring shocker

Ask yourself this question, Georgia fans: What would be an acceptable outcome from today's Georgia-Florida game in Jacksonville?

Some of you will be happy if the Bulldogs (4-3) don't get embarrassed by the top-ranked Gators (7-0), like they did in a 49-10 whipping a year ago.

Some of you will be satisfied if the Bulldogs show some toughness and keep things close against the defending national champions.

And for some of you, victory is the only acceptable result.

Oddly enough, the last of those options isn't as absurd as Las Vegas' double-digit point spread might indicate.

Reason -- combined with only a momentary glance at a season stat sheet -- dictates that Florida should win handily.

The Gators have possibly the nation's best defense and one of the best players in college football history in quarterback Tim Tebow.

Georgia, on the other hand, wobbled through a messy first half of the season and has been a train wreck on both sides of the ball in several recent games.

But the eyeball test tells us something different. Florida has hardly looked like the best team in the nation since Tebow returned from a frightening concussion sustained in a Sept. 26 win over Kentucky.

The Gators' offense is ineffective inside an opponent's 20-yard line, scoring touchdowns with scarce frequency. They're dodging bullets against teams -- say, Tennessee, Arkansas or Mississippi State -- that last year's championship squad would have dispatched with ruthless efficiency.

Tebow himself seems a shadow of the player who won the 2007 Heisman Trophy and should have won it last season.

The concussion is, well, in his head. He clearly doesn't feel comfortable in the battering-ram role that made him so incredibly effective. It has made him tentative, which is not the way a senior quarterback should play.

This is a Florida team that is ripe for the picking. Whether Georgia is capable of being the picker is a different story.

I believe the Bulldogs can do it, but only if they play by far their cleanest game of the season.

Georgia must follow the example that Tennessee and Mississippi State set in keeping things relatively close against Florida: force turnovers and make the Gators pay for them.

At worst, the Bulldogs will make Florida work hard for a win. At best, they might even win this thing.

Reach David Ching at davidching@morris.com.