JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The outcry coming into Saturday’s game was that Georgia needed to play quarterback Justin Fields more. But the Bulldogs stuck with Jake Fromm throughout, and the sophomore quarterback made them glad they did.

Fromm responded to the worst game of his career against LSU two weeks ago with one of his best on Saturday. The sophomore from Warner Robins hit J.J. Holloman twice for touchdown passes, threw another another one to Terry Godwin midway through the fourth quarter, and completed several other key throws as No. 7 Georgia forged a hard-fought 36-17 victory over the No. 9 Gators at TIAA Bank Field.

Fromm had 240 yards on 17-of-24 passing for 240 yards and 3 touchdowns when the Bulldogs moved to kill the clock late in the in the fourth quarter. He also had a 10-yard run for a critical second-half first down and finished with 11 yards rushing for the game.

Fields, the dynamic freshman quarterback from Kennesaw, did not play in the game.

Florida came into the game ranked No. 6 in the nation in pass defense. But they lost starting cornerback C.J. Henderson to a back injury in the first half and were already playing without another defensive back.

Fromm twice hit Holloman, a sophomore from Covington, on long fade patterns for scores. They hooked up from 16 yards out on third-and-13 to put the Bulldogs ahead 10-0 in the first quarter. They found each other again on the same play on third-and-2 at the Florida 12 at the 10:33 mark of the third quarter.

The back-breaker for Florida came when Fromm hit Godwin with a 24-yard strike on a deep flag route to South end zone of TIAA Bank Field.

After struggling on third down most of the season, the Bulldogs were 8-for-14 under Fromm’s watch on Saturday.