Georgia football: It's finally Florida Week. We have questions ... and answers
Fall has arrived here in the South. The leaves are turning and the weather’s getting cooler, so that could only mean one thing: The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Or, the Georgia-Florida game for short.
Sure, Jacksonville is 360 miles from Athens vs. a mere 70 from Gainesville, but it just feels like it’s not Georgia-Florida if it’s not in Jacksonville. It was played on each school’s campus in 1994 and 1995 when TIAA Bank Field was being built, but for a game that had been played in Florida’s most populous city since the 1930s, it just wasn’t … well … the same. (The forecast for Saturday? Gorgeous. Partly cloudy skies and 77 degrees.)
You know who’s not a fan of the game being played in Jacksonville every year, though? Kirby Smart. In some respects, he’s right about losing a recruiting weekend. But Georgia-Florida in Jacksonville is like peanut butter and jelly, salt and pepper, Chick-fil-A and sweet tea. They just go together.
That being said, as much as been made by Dawgs fans about it being an easier trip for Gators fans, it’s been a pretty even series this decade. It’s probably not surprising, then, that the longest winning streak by either team is 7, set by Georgia from 1904-1927 and again from 1941-1948, but matched by the Steve Spurrier-coached Florida teams from 1990-1996.
And while the past 5 games have seen double-digit win margins, there have been some close wins and losses for the Dawgs this decade.
In 2010, Georgia lost in overtime on a field goal. The Dawgs needed a 4th-quarter touchdown to topple Florida the next year, then forced 6 Gators turnovers in 2012 to knock Will Muschamp’s No. 2-ranked squad from the ranks of the unbeaten. It nearly coughed up a 20-point 3rd quarter lead in 2013 before holding on to win during a bumpy 8-5 campaign that saw it ranked as high as 6th. Despite the Gators winning in 2014, 2015 and 2016, the Dawgs have won the last 2 meetings by a wide margin.
Just like 2018, a great deal is on the line for both programs Saturday.
Last year both were in the top 10 and looking to boost their SEC East and College Football Playoff chances. This year, with both having lost a game already? Same situation, with no margin for error. A win will equal a huge boost for the tail end of the season for Georgia, as it has a tougher remaining schedule than Florida with a trip to Auburn highlighting November.
It’s a bit tough to get a read on the exact trajectory this game will take, but it might hinge on these 4 questions:
Will Jake Fromm be forced into mistakes by Florida’s pass rush and secondary?
Florida has 29 sacks, tied for 6th in FBS. Its 12 interceptions are tied for 3rd in the country. Despite throwing just 3 interceptions, all against South Carolina, while being sacked just 4 times, we’ve seen what Fromm is like when hurried and under duress. This might be the stiffest test Georgia’s offensive line faces all season until it plays against Auburn.
Can Georgia attack on Kyle Trask, who has struggled with ball security, the way Auburn did?
Trask has been sacked 13 times this season and fumbled 5 times, losing 3. A consistent pass rush might be a key in neutralizing a quarterback who has thrown 2 or more touchdowns in each of his past 5 games and been picked off just 4 times this season.
Will this be a big game for the Dawgs’ running back duo of D’Andre Swift and Brian Herrien?
Florida has held teams to an average of 128 yards rushing through 8 games. But it gave up 218 to LSU on just 24 carries and allowed 217 on 40 carries to South Carolina.
Part of how Florida’s run defense will look Saturday will rely on the health of Jonathan Greenard, but players like Jabari Zuniga and Jeremiah Moon can easily pick up the slack.
Georgia has rushed for 189 yards and 292 yards, respectively in its past 2 wins over Florida. Combined, the Dawgs ran for 5 TDs.
How well the Dawgs can run the ball will be a key factor.
How will Dawgs’ passing game stack up against Florida’s secondary?
One name to note for Saturday is CJ Henderson, who leads Florida with 9 pass deflections.
Fromm threw for 240 yards and 3 TDs against Florida last year. He barely had to lift his right arm in the 2017 victory.
If Fromm wants to work the ball downfield, he might have little success getting it to the receiver Henderson’s matched up against. If he wants to work it toward the middle of the field, he’ll have to contend with a unit that’s among the best nationally in interceptions.
Welcome to Florida week. Those questions and more will be answered Saturday.
It’s hate week! LFG!!! GO DAWGS
Go Gators !!
BOOOOOOOO
It’s 10:59 am/et
Give it a couple of hours before all the UF crackheads are accounted for.
Co, Marsh and Nash probably haven’t even made bail yet.
Lol
Look who’s back from hiding. Enjoy this week and talk all you want cause by Saturday night you will go back to the stinking hole you crawled out of. Your two year dynasty is over fool, you just don’t know it yet.
This seems like a Florida win unless UGA wins with great D and special teams. The UGA O just seems stuck in the mud. I have no horse in the race so good luck to both teams.
To hell with Georgia. It’s Georgia hate week.
Lol, what is this Georgia-Florida thing the article speaks of? They do realize the alphabet places F before G correct? Florida-Georgia is proper name.
But hey, they spell dog as Dawgs so there ya go.
Joking aside, lets have a great game with few injuries! SEC East needs to reclaim the throne one way or the other… so no injuries for either team!
It has always been Georgia-Florida. The alphabet has nothing to do with it. The older institution is named first. Hence, Georgia-Florida.
@Toddd can not even spell is own name right let alone read! He would say something like “the alphabet has nothing to do with it.” Go Gators! Beat those Dawgs!
LOL
I hoping with two weeks to rest, work on fundamentals, and prepare for Florida, CKS will have this team ready to go.
I like and respect a number of Gator fans on SDS. But it’s hate week, so some trash talk is mandatory.
Being a gentleman, I’ll let you go first, sir. Where ya wanna start?
Gator fans wear jean shorts!
Ok, your turn.
I think this is where your supposed to say something about incest and dating your cousins and so forth @GatorRob
I don’t see this as bad… have you seen some of our coeds in short cut off jeans. Purrrrrrr….
Time to Send Georgia to the “Belk Bowl”……Lol. Florida By 13.
We’ve got our tickets and plan to be there under 73 degree clear skies and look forward to a real slugfest.
Enjoy the game. Ought to be a great afternoon of hard nosed football between two great teams!
Really excited about the game. I think it will be a balanced game with each side having advantages and disadvantages. I think outside of the obvious, turnovers, if the Gators can keep uga under 200 yards rushing we have a good chance to win.
UGA has more pure talent at RB/QB/OL.UF is much better on D particularly in secondary and DL (if Greenard and Zuniga are goes) and at WR and dare say ST and K as Rodrigo blew the S.C. game.
UGA has high school level coaching in Kirby. Mullen has been masterful thus far at UF…particularly with the offense. That is probably biggest decider in game. If Smart keeps making bone-headed calls like in past cpl years and Mullen can get what he got from Trask cs LSU and Auburn, UGA will get a L…if not, game is a toss-up.
UF’s defense is “much better”. UGA is ranked 5th, UF 12th.
I think they both have good defenses. The strength of each defense is different. It’s all about match ups. uga has to stop our pass game and we have to stop their run game.
UGA best game was ND (where ND had chance to win at end and was able to move the ball)….yet, ND looked utterly inept against a mediocre meatchicken team. UGA also padded stats playing a UK team with a WR playing as 4th string QB in a tropical storm. UGA also got throttled at home by team UF just waxed on the road.
UF stats also include a game at LSU (which is entire diff in ranking) minus their top DL.
I was at the ND-Much game. Brian Kelly screwed his own team. Conditions were miserable – cold, windy, driving rain, and his dumb azz was trying to chuck it around like it was sunny and balmy.
Stoopid.
I think the conditions contributed to ND looking inept against the meatchickens.
You seem very emotional about this. The loss to USC had nothing to do with UGA’s defense. The cocks never took a snap inside UGA’s 30 yard line until the overtime when they started on the 25. USC scored 27 points on the gator defense.
UGA hasn’t played LSU or other high powered offense.
It’s Florida – Georgia bro and the two year dynasty that was derailed by the chickens will be put to rest by the Gators in Jax.
Go Gators, beat them puppies silly
I can’t wait for you to disappear on Saturday night
Oooooooh good one! Speaking of disappearing, haven’t seen you on the Gator threads much sense Kirby, Fromm and your Dawgs laid that turd against USC? Hope y’all got something better then what you showed against the Cocks and the Cats. If not, Mullen will be dancing and Kirby will be headed back to the drawing board to try and find some more 5 stars he can’t coach to a victory. Go Gators! The Dawgs are feeling real nervous. I can feel it.
“Sense”? Lol gotta love that Florida education.
You got me! Man, you just can not get anything past the UGA faithful. Good thing my one mistake does not even come close to all the ignorant comments you make on a regular bases. LOL
Ignorant comments? Like? You’re the troll here.
Ok let’s recap. A troll is someone who makes a deliberately offensive or provocative online post. You responded to @CO, who was speaking about the game and bantering like everyone else on this forum. Your response said “I can not wait till you disappear,” which would qualify as 1.) angry 2.) provocative. 3.) Weird and 4.) ignorant. These are all traits of a “troll,” if not then just a bitter person. I then chimed in to further the banter (talking about the topic of football) and instead of addressing the topic you fire back with a jab on my intelligence because I used the wrong form of a word. It takes a special type of ignorant person to compartmentalize someones intelligence over one misuse of a single word. Because you could not debate you simply decided to name call, which is the primary example of a troll and also someone that is very insecure in the real world.
@mr2$hits No… you and CO cry all day long about UGA fans “commenting” on Uf articles. And here you are…running your mouths. I said I can’t wait for him to disappear after the game and you know exactly what I meant. Not really sure why that’s “weird” or “angry”. And it’s not banter, “beat them puppies silly” , “find more 5* he can’t coach”, the stupid “2 year dynasty” thing you two both keep talking about. That’s not banter. That’s trolling. What is there to “debate” in Co’s comment? It’s a troll. It’s not an opinion.
And using “sense” instead of “since” isn’t a little mistake. “Wrong form of the wrong word” Oh my f’n god dude. IT”S TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT WORDS!!! THEY HAVE ZERO CORRELATION TO EACH OTHER. You deserve to be ridiculed over it, especially SINCE you’re running your mouth and calling people ignorant.
Hmmm…well I guess we can agree to disagree then. I assume others will read these comments and understand though. Good luck this week! Hoping for a competitive game. Go Gators.
Nothing new in article.