“It just so happened on those plays he was turned loose.”

Normally, I’d save something like this for a bullet point in an Observations post, but Leonard Floyd played so well last night – calling his effort lights out almost doesn’t do it justice – that I thought he deserved a post of his own about it.

He was dominant on a night, sadly, when they needed him to be just that.

There’s no denying what Georgia did at the end of the game. The Bulldogs’ performance on the Eagles’ only possession of overtime was the stuff of legend, particularly for Leonard Floyd. The junior outside linebacker had a hand in on every play, including the final tackle for a three-yard loss on fourth-and-1 at the Georgia 16. Floyd and Jordan Jenkins combined on that one.

That wasn’t even my favorite moment of his.  What he did on the Eagles’ last play in regulation was incredible.  A third-and-eight play call that looked like it gave Upshaw a run/pass option, Floyd defended it by first playing Upshaw to throw, then, when it looked like he might run, taking that away, and then, incredibly, when Upshaw pulled up to throw it in the flat where there was some space (and where the play was designed to go in the first place), Floyd adjusted again to defend that.  The end result was that the pass was dumped inside where there was coverage help and the play was stopped for a two-yard gain.

All on a single play where Floyd’s name won’t even show up in the box score.  It’s hard to believe he’s the same player who once routinely bit on fakes and was as guilty of overpursuing a play as anyone.  It’s also scary to see how much he’s improved just in the last six or so games.

It’s a damn shame he’ll be moving on to the pros after this season, but for him, it’s definitely time.  Meanwhile, thanks for last night.  I enjoyed the hell out of it.