Georgia players weigh in on location of Florida rivalry game

ATHENS, Ga. — The location of Georgia-Florida is always a topic of conversation the week of the game, and on Monday, Georgia veterans Christopher Smith and Stetson Bennett weighed in with their opinions. The way they see it, it’d be nice for a mix up in location.

“I definitely like playing in Jacksonville, but personally, I would like to see it as a home and home,” Smith said. “It brings a different feel. I never had the opportunity to play in Florida’s stadium. That’s something that I always wanted. Maybe a home and home, a game in Jacksonville every one in a while, something like that. Regardless, the fans are going to show up and show out. It definitely would be great to get a home and home every now and then though because I feel like the players deserve the experience. Their players haven’t been able to come to our stadium either, and they both are great sites to see.”

“The grass is always greener,” Bennett added. “It would be cool to play in Gainesville. I don’t know what they would mean for Jacksonville, Gainesville, Athens, but it would be cool to play down there.”

Georgia and Florida released a joint statement on the future of the the rivalry on Monday with an option to extend on the horizon. The two schools are locked into a contract in Jacksonville through 2023 with an option to extend two more seasons for 2024 and 2025. Last month at the UGA Athletics Association Board of Directors meeting, University of Georgia president Jere Morehead said that the extension had not been discussed yet.

“The annual game between our two universities is an important tradition. At this time, both programs are focused on our current seasons,” the schools said in the statement. “Typically both schools begin conversations regarding future games in the series as the last contracted game nears. We anticipate following that timeline. When those discussions take place, we will consider a multitude of factors including tradition, finances, future SEC scheduling models with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma, and what is best for both schools’ football programs overall.”

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart has been one of the biggest advocates for moving the game to a home and home during his time in Athens. Last week during the Bulldogs’ bye week, Smart gave a candid statement weighing the pros and cons of keeping the game in Jacksonville versus moving it to a home and home.

“There’s really quality benefits to both,” Smart said. “You guys, I get it, you want to make a story. You need a story. Everybody wants to talk about it. It’s really not a big debate for me. It’s been made really big by the media because they’ve made it out to be a really big deal. I enjoy the pageantry of going down there and playing. I enjoyed it as a player. I enjoy tradition. I enjoy all those things.”

“When it comes down to it, the very very basic element of everything comes back to, number one, money, and number two, recruiting and getting good players,” he continued. “I firmly believe that we’ll be able to sign better players by having home and home because we’ll have more opportunities to get them to campus. But I also think there’s a financial factor that factors into that with having the game there and being able to make more money for the university possibly there. So you have to weigh both of those and make really good decisions.”

No. 1 Georgia and unranked Florida are set to meet this season at TIAA Bank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. this coming Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS.