Georgia Bulldogs countdown to kickoff: 95 days
We’re 95 days away from Georgia Bulldogs football. So let’s take a trip down I-95 and check in on a little Cocktail Party in Jacksonville.
When I grew up as a young, impressionable viewer of Georgia football in the early 2000’s, a Bulldog victory over Florida was more rare than the undercooked burger at your family’s Memorial Day cookout.
Steve Spurrier owned the Dawgs.
There was no way around it.
Even when Georgia teams were supposed to have a leg up on their reptilian rivals, Ron Zook and Rex Grossman in 2002 and a D.J. Shockley injury in 2005 led to some sour Saturdays on the banks of the Saint Johns.
Then came the 2010’s, and a little more success. A win suddenly wasn’t too flukey. Georgia even put together a streak from 2011-2013.
But then wheel routes and a perimeter run game brought back that familiar feeling in 2014 and 2015.
The Georgia Florida game has a different flavor to it now
Kirby Smart’s teams only have two losses against their SEC East rival.
One at the hands of Jim McElwain in Smart’s first season.
One at the hands of Dan Mullen in 2020.
Neither one coaches at Florida now. It’s Billy Napier’s turn to try and save the Gators, actually attempt to build a recruiting class, and get Florida competitive at the Cocktail Party again.
It might take a minute. Kirby’s Dawgs are rolling now. It’s Florida’s turn to get that rare burger at the cookout.
Other than that, we’re in the thick of our annual ‘Talkin’ Season’ conversation about the Georgia Florida game itself
It came up at Georgia’s Athletics Board Meeting last week, and is bound to come up at SEC Spring meetings.
Will it stay in Jacksonville?
Will Northern Georgia fans continue making the trek down I-95 to see this game in the same NFL stadium Travon Walker just got drafted to play in?
Kirby Smart wants it home-and-home so he can host recruits.
SEC expansion might impact how often Georgia plays Florida (although you’d have to imagine that rivalry game would remain in whatever format they choose).
Georgia AD Josh Brooks isn’t concerned about it. Yet.
“We’re not in the discussion of that right now. We signed a deal a few years ago with an option for two more years (through the 2023 season),” Brooks said at the board meeting.
“We haven’t gotten into the weeds on that yet. We’ll discuss that at a different time. It just hasn’t been on our radar right now with other pressing matters.”
Recent Countdown to Kickoff Stories
No. 96 – Jim Donnan’s first season as Georgia head coach in 1996
No. 97 – Uga named nation’s best mascot in 1997
