College Football
15 Yellow Hankies
By: Charlie Moon
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Every time she sees Mark Richt on TV, my mom says, “Ain’t he so cute.” My dad would have no choice but to just laugh it off.
One of the greatest shots of Richt’s famous dimpled smile, was in 2007 against Florida. Knowshon Moreno had just opened the scoring in the 1st quarter. Then, came one of the most iconic rivalry moments.
CBS’s Verne Lundquist: “Moreno. Did he break the plane? Yes…Touchdown! The entire team is coming out! We may have 15 yellow hankies!”
Then, a perfect example of why I always say TV production crews for college football run circles around NFL.
Perfection. Video went to a high overhead shot, a perfect storm of red, white and silver, storming the end zone.
Some demean color analyst Gary Danielson. I say they’re crazy. Perfect example? Danielson follows during this overhead shot; “This was all absolutely planned. Mark Richt has decided he is tired of the Florida Gators having the psychological advantage over UGA.”
As Danielson was saying that, video went to UGA senior defensive end Marcus Howard. He was banging his chest with both fists. His 27 2-foot-long dreads were bouncing. Dude looked like a crazed madman! The Dawgs had psychologically released.
Then, the video got Tim Tebow and two teammates on the Gator sideline. Everybody remembers how animated Tebow was.
Not this time. You’d think Tebow would be gathering his guys in their own sideline huddled mass and doing that thing where he looked in their eyes and pointed to the heavens.
But this time, he just stood there, with his eyes and mouth wide open. Kind of like Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning looked like against Georgia.
Tebow was stunned. The Gators were stunned. This was the moment the rivalry turned.
That’s right. The majority of the Dawgs team had stormed the end zone and was dancing like it was 1999. At first, I was like “What in the world are we doing!”
Then my brother Chad started getting jacked up! “This is a message! We’re not taking it anymore! Let’s go. Go Dawgs!”
The cameras panned to the normally reverent and serene Mark Richt on the sideline. He was clapping and had this sly grin on his face.
There wasn’t a single UGA coach scurrying out to pull players back. Normally, you’d see that in a situation like this, right? Not this time!
Danielson was right. It was planned. UGA initially denied it, but everyone knew. And I don’t care what Richt said after the game, we all knew.
In the following off-season, Richt pretty much admitted, players pitched it during the annual pre-Florida game off week. Richt initially said no way. But he eventually ruled in favor of the players, with a few restrictions.
It had to be with the Dawgs in an early lead or tying situation. No celebrations, down 21 in the 4th quarter. No direct taunting of Florida players in the end zone, or toward their sidelines.
To their credit, players did follow these guidelines. But the funniest shot was of 320-pound OL Trinton Sturdivant breaking out in what can only be described as his own “Big Boy” version of River Dance.
The Dawgs went on to win 42-30, but it really wasn’t that close.
Under Spurrier and Meyer, the Gators dominated the series, 15-2. So often, though, it wasn’t because of dominating rosters. The Gators simply were in the Dawgs’ head.
Annually, tight games would turn on a dime with one UGA mistake. Then the wheels would come off.
But the Dawgs have gone 10-6 against the Gators since then. This was the day the series turned.
Greatest Game Ever?
By: Joe Delaney
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
In 1980 the Georgia Bulldogs had a very good football team. They also had an emerging superstar in Hershel Walker.
Who can forget the Georgia Tennessee game to open the 1980 season. Georgia trailed 15-0 when Vince Dooley decided it was time to see what the big freshman running back could do. The rest is history.
“My God, a freshman!” was the legendary Larry Munsons’ call on Walkers first touchdown run in which he ran completely over Bill Bates the Vols safety and scored.
The Dawgs would go on the win 16-15 and a legend was born. Vince had said a few weeks before that he felt Herschel was just a big stiff back. Never was he so wrong.
Fast forward two months and the Dawgs sat at 8-0 with scintillating wins over Clemson and South Carolina. They also held the #2 ranking in the nation. Next up were the hated Gators. The Gators were 6-1 and nationally ranked.
Georgia had run the table with a ground-oriented attack featuring Walker. They did however have a very good offense with Buck Belue, Norris Brown, Nat Hudson, Lindsay Scott and others.
Defensively they were stout with Tim Parks, Eddie “Meat Cleaver” Weaver, Jeff Hipp, Scott “Woerner the returner”, and others.
The kicking game boasted probably the best kicker in the country in Rex Robinson. All the parts were there.
On a sun-drenched Autumn Day in Jacksonville the Dawgs struck first with Walker taking a pitch and blasting 72 yards for the score. He would go on to rush for 238 yards on 37 carries for the day.
Georgia led 20-10 well into the second half when the Gators came back with two scores to take a 21-20 lead with time running out. With little more than a minute to play the Dawgs found themselves 93 yards from the endzone. What happened next was probably the greatest play in Georgia football history and the greatest call by the legendary Larry Munson.
Buck Belue was chased out of the pocket and threw on the run to Lindsay Scott at the 25-yard line. From there Lindsay took it the 75 yards for the touchdown and the lead.
The Gator Bowl went crazy. I can remember Lindsay running down to the corner of the endzone where I was 25 rows up and it was pandemonium. It literally began raining as people threw their cocktails up in the air.
On the Florida sideline there was stunned silence where the Florida players had been dancing the “funky chicken” a minute before.
Munson’s call on the play started with. “Buck back….third down on the eight.” “In trouble, got a block behind him.” “Gonna throw on the run.”
It ended with….“26-21 DAWGS on top!” “We were gone, I gave up, you did too!” “We were out of it and gone……MIRACLE!”
Georgia would go on to win the National Championship taking out Notre Dame 17-10 in the Sugar Bowl.
But the greatest play and call came on that wonderful November day by the St Johns River.
Buying Time
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Billy Napier is in his third season as head coach in Gainesville but he has not proven himself as the right man for the job.
He was hired as Florida’s head coach on December 5, 2021 from Louisiana. He was 40-12 in his four seasons coaching the Ragin’ Cajuns. In his last three years he was 11-3, 10-1 and 12-1.
He replaced Dan Mullen who coached the Gators from 2018-21. Under Mullen UF went 10-3, 11-2, 8-4 and 6-7. Having a losing record got him immediately fired despite having earlier success.
In the case of Napier, he has not had success yet. They were 6-7 in his first year and 5-7 last season. That 2022 team did advance to the Las Vegas Bowl where they were beaten 30-3 by Oregon State.
This season Florida had a brutal schedule. They started the season with a loss at home to #19 Miami, 41-17. The other losses were to Texas A&M, who is currently ranked #14 and #8 Tennessee. They did play a close game with the Vols and lost in overtime, 23-17.
The Gators are currently 4-3 and had their best win of the season. They beat Kentucky 48-20, snapping their three-game losing streak to the Wildcats. Five-star freshman quarterback DJ Lagway completed seven of his fourteen passes but five of them went for 40-plus yards. He passed for 259 yards and rushed for 46 yards.
Freshman running back Jadan Baugh rushed for 106 yards and 5 touchdowns. The 5 touchdowns in a game tie the school record held by Tim Tebow and Trey Burton.
“That’s pretty good company there,” Napier said.
“For Billy Napier, Florida’s beleaguered head coach, the win kept the lions at bay for another week,” Saturday Down South’s Neil Blackmon wrote. “Napier’s buyout was assembled by Florida’s boosters in September, per multiple media reports. After Saturday night’s blowout win, there’s enough hope swirling around the Florida program to provide a path forward under Napier, albeit a narrow one.”
I want to point out that Georgia struggled against Kentucky, winning 13-12.
UF is going into their bye week before they face #2 UGA in Jacksonville. Georgia has won six of the last seven meetings. They’re currently on a three-game winning streak.
Beating the Bulldogs does not seem likely. The remaining schedule after that game is at #5 Texas, #8 LSU, #18 Ole Miss and at Florida State.
As you know, the Seminoles are historically bad this season. FSU is 1-6 and this will be an easy win for Florida. That will only put them at five wins though. In the other games, where will they find a win?
The most likely scenario is UF loses to those ranked teams and finishes 5-7. If they can upset one of them they will finish 6-6. Beating any of those teams will be impressive but is 6-6 good enough at Florida?
Another aspect to consider is Lane Kiffin has been rumored to be the top candidate to replace Napier if he is fired. Once these teams play November 23rd it is going to be talked about more, especially if Ole Miss wins.
I think Napier’s tenure at Florida is done after this season. The only thing that could save his job are two wins against ranked teams and I think one of those wins would have to be against Georgia.
Hall Of Fame
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The city of Jacksonville announced on Tuesday that Bill Goldberg, the former University of Georgia defensive tackle who helped the Bulldogs win three of four games against the Gators, will be among the 2024 inductees into the game’s Hall of Fame.
Goldberg will be inducted with Florida cornerback Fred Weary, a Mandarin High graduate, former Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Mike Peterson, and UGA cornerback Mike Fischer of Jacksonville, a Bolles graduate.
Goldberg was a two-time All-SEC player and lettered four years for the Dawgs from 1986-1989. He’s still ninth in Georgia history with 348 tackles.
But when injuries curtailed his NFL career after stops with the Los Angeles Rams and Atlanta Falcons, Goldberg dropped his first name and became one of the dominant professional wrestlers with a career of more than two decades that culminated with his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018.
Using moves such as “The Spear” and “The Jackhammer,” Goldberg was a five-time world champion in World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment and at one point was reputed to have gone on a 173-0 streak.
He wrestled competitively off and on from 1997-2018 and also has dabbled in mixed martial arts and acting. He appeared in Adam Sandler’s remake of “The Longest Yard” and was a contestant on “Celebrity Apprentice.”
Fisher, who began his college career at Furman, transferred to Georgia as a walk-on and earned a scholarship in 1978. He played on three Georgia teams that went 3-0 against the Gators from 1978-1980 and had an interception against the Gators in the 1979 and two in 1980.
Fred Weary played for the Gators from 1994-1997 and was on three winning teams against Georgia, including the two games that were played on the campuses in 1994-1995 when UF won by combined scores of 104-31.
Weary had 15 career interceptions to lead Florida, six in his senior season. He was first-team All-SEC.
Weary played six years in the NFL, for New Orleans, Atlanta and the St. Louis Rams. He had seven interceptions as a pro.
Mike Peterson, a Gainesville native who played high school football at Alachua Santa Fe, stayed home to play for the Gators and was on three teams that beat the Bulldogs in four years from 1995-1998. Peterson had 249 tackles in four seasons and also was first-team All-SEC.
Weary and Peterson both started for the Gators’ first national championship team under Steve Spurrier in 1996.
Peterson played in the NFL for 14 years, with Indianapolis, the Jaguars and Atlanta. He had 883 tackles and 19 interceptions. He is currently on the Florida coaching staff.
The History
By: Michael Spiers
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Georgia-Florida rivalry is one of the oldest and most exciting matchups in all of college football.
Every year, when the University of Georgia Bulldogs are scheduled to face off against the University of Florida Gators, it’s a game both fanbases circle on their calendars.
The two teams have been meeting for over a century, and while Georgia claims the rivalry started in 1904, Florida doesn’t count that game.
That’s because the 1904 Florida team wasn’t from the university as we know it today—it was from a predecessor school, Florida Agricultural College. The official start, according to both schools, was in 1915 when Georgia shut out Florida 37-0.
The game has almost always been played in Jacksonville, Florida, since the 1930s, and it’s become a huge part of the River City’s culture.
Jacksonville was originally picked as a neutral site because it’s between the two schools, and before Interstate 95, it was easier to get to with the modes of transportation available at the time.
Now, it’s an annual event that draws thousands of fans to the city, with plenty of tailgating and partying that turns the weekend into a big celebration. The game itself brings in millions of dollars to Jacksonville’s economy, making it a win for the city as well.
What makes this rivalry unique is that there isn’t a traditional trophy like in other famous matchups. Instead, the winning team takes home a staff made from a tree in the Okefenokee Swamp, which is on the Georgia-Florida border. Right now, that staff is in Georgia’s possession.
Over the years, the game has seen some wild moments. It’s even earned the nickname “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” because of how rowdy the tailgates and celebrations can get.
Fans have been known to party hard, and in the past, things got a little too crazy. In the 1980s, after some alcohol-fueled incidents, including fans tearing down goalposts, Jacksonville had to crack down on the party atmosphere to keep things under control.
They even stopped using the “Cocktail Party” nickname officially, but the fun hasn’t really gone away.
On the field, Georgia dominated the early years, winning most of the games up until the 1950s. Florida didn’t start to gain ground until the ’50s, and the rivalry really heated up when Steve Spurrier became Florida’s head coach in 1990.
Under Spurrier and his successors, Florida went on a tear, winning most of the games in the ’90s and early 2000s. In the last 15 years, though Georgia has won the last three years in a row, the two teams have been more evenly matched.
This game often plays a big role in determining who comes out on top in the SEC East.
Both Georgia and Florida have historically been strong contenders in their division of the conference, so the winner has commonly had a better shot at making it to the SEC Championship.
The rivalry isn’t just a big deal for the teams and their fans; it’s huge for Jacksonville.
The city goes all out to make the weekend special, and it’s a major boost to the local economy.
The game has been played at EverBank Field, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars, since the old Gator Bowl stadium was torn down in the ’90s.
EverBank offers a modern, NFL-style experience for the thousands of fans who pack it every year.
Despite occasional talk about moving the game to the teams’ home stadiums, it has remained in Jacksonville.
Both schools seem happy to keep it that way, but planned renovations to EverBank Stadium starting in 2026 will force a relocation for at least a couple of years, before a hopeful return to Jacksonville in 2028.
The city offers a big payout to the teams, and the fans love the neutral site tradition.
In the end, Georgia-Florida isn’t just a football game—it’s a massive event that people from all over look forward to every year.
Whether you’re a diehard fan or just there for the tailgate, it’s a rivalry that holds a special place in college football.
Memorable Cocktail Games
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Georgia-Florida game is one of the best rivalries in college football. Let’s look back over the years at some of the best performances from this rivalry game.
1997 #14 Georgia 37 #6 Florida 17: The defending national champion Gators were on a seven-game win streak against UGA.
The Bulldogs were 20-point underdogs because of this. The Gators had won 52-14, 52-17 and 47-7 the previous three years against the Bulldogs.
Robert Edwards rushed for 124 yards and four touchdowns. He seems to be a forgotten about player but he led Georgia to a major win.
1995 #3 Florida 52 Georgia 17: This was Florida’s only trip to Athens since the game was permanently moved to Jacksonville in 1933. This was the first season for the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars and the city had to make renovations to the Gator Bowl. The series was moved to a home-and-home series in 1994 and 1995.
Quarterback Danny Wuerffel threw for 242 yards and 5 touchdowns in just under three quarters. Backup QB Eric Kresser tossed two more touchdowns in the 4th quarter, with the last one with 1:10 left in the game.
“You could always tell there was a little extra pep in [Spurrier’s] step when it was Georgia week,” wide receiver Chris Doering said. “It was cool being one of the few teams that ever got the chance to play Georgia in Jacksonville, Gainesville and then going up there in ‘95.”
1980 #2 Georgia 26 #20 Florida 21: Freshman tailback Herschel Walker rushed for 238 yards and a touchdown on 37 carries. He’s actually an afterthought when people look back at this game though because of how it ended.
UGA trailed 21-20 when they took over the ball at their 8-yard line with 1:35 left in the game. They lost one yard on first down and threw an incomplete pass on second down.
On third-and-eleven QB Buck Belue completed a pass to flanker Lindsay Scott near the UGA 25-yard line. Scott seemed to be surrounded by Gators but he cut towards the Georgia bench and ran down the sideline for a 93-yard touchdown.
2002 Florida 20 #5 Georgia 13: It’s tough to view a Gator win as an upset during this time period because they had won 11 of the last 12 meetings before this.
UF had first year head coach Ron Zook and they were struggling, coming into this game 5-3. Georgia, on the other hand was 8-0 under Mark Richt in his second season.
The Florida defense did not allow a single third down conversion on the day, the Bulldogs were 0-for-13.
Florida QB Rex Grossman completed 36 of his 46 pass attempts for 339 yards, two scores and two interceptions.
2007 #20 Georgia 42 #9 Florida 30: Florida won the national championship the year before. Head coach Urban Meyer was doing a great job bringing talent to Gainesville, which included quarterback Tim Tebow. He would become the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy in 2007 but he was not the star of this game.
Bulldog running back Knowshon Moreno rushed for 188 yards and 3 TD’s. QB Matt Stafford passed for 217 yards, 3 scores and 1 interception.
The coolest thing about this game was after Moreno scored a 1-yard touchdown in the first quarter. The entire Georgia team ran into the end zone to celebrate.
It would later be known as the ‘Gator Stomp’ and it is one of the best images in college football history.
In Or Out?
By: Charlie Moon
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Misinformation, lies, rumors, conspiracy; goodness knows we’ve heard those words all too often the last decade or so, especially the last few weeks.
People try to figure out if what they’re seeing or reading is really true or not. In the end, let’s be honest, most people end up gravitating to the words, opinions and stories that only tell them what they want to hear anyway. They stake their public stances that come from the person, leader or coach that they already claim.
It doesn’t matter if their coveted leader says, “Cats are now the ones really in control of interest rates” or ”I heard that people in California are now going to have to all raise their own cows, because all dairy and beef products have suddenly become nuclear-reactive to the interior steel of grocery store trucks.”
Ahhhhh, and you thought I was talking about politics? The truth of the matter is, the same can be said for sports journalists and prognosticators. Anyone who props up their team is a genius and those that dare negate them are just morons.
Well, some of you will think I’m an idiot after reading this today. Here’s my stake on what the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff will look like.
Coming into this season I thought, like many, this would be the most intriguing college football season ever.
We got expanded conferences. Now, we have The Red River Rivalry showcasing the SEC? We got old school Rose Bowl matchups all season like the Penn St – USC game.
Look, I get it. NIL and the transfer portal have forever changed the game. And like I thought, it looks like the portal is doing more damage than anything.
Here’s a reminder of what the field of 12 will consist of.
The obvious is this, a combination of five conference champs and seven at-larges get in.
Here’s where the misnomer comes in. Most folks think the highest ranked non-Power 4 conference champ is in. That’s not quite true, although it may work out that way.
Actually, the champs of the 5 highest ranked conferences are in. The next 7 highest-ranked teams get at-large bids.
Let’s go.
The easiest thing is, the Power 4 conferences will assuredly be the SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big 12, in no particular order.
Let’s start there, the current top 5 conferences.
SEC Champ will be UGA. Okay, okay. Some like to call me a homer, but sorry. When I’m at the tailgate, I speak my heart for sure. But when I’m on the job, it’s about business.
Texas will lose to UGA next week and on the road at either Texas A&M or Arkansas.
UGA runs the rest of their slate, while Bama loses at LSU.
That leaves the sneaky Bayou Bengals running my slate clean. UGA beats LSU in the conference championship.
Big Ten Champ will be Ohio St. Yes, they lost to Oregon but will take down the Ducks in a Big Ten conference title rematch game.
The ACC will be Miami once they beat Clemson in the ACC title game. In this season’s College Football Preview, I predicted the Canes to be a dark-horse playoff team, so I’m sticking with them.
The Big 12 will perch the Iowa State Cyclones under the sneakiest, best Head Coach in college football, Matt Campbell.
Next up is a tough one. I think Boise St is definitely the best team outside these top 4 conferences but remember the guideline – “top 5 conferences.”
There is no “top ranked team outside the Power 4” like most think. That said, part of the conference rankings are quantified by the human playoff committee.
I think Conference USA easily tops the Mountain West with Army, Navy and Tulane besting the Mountain West’s top 3 of Boise, San Jose and UNLV.
In the end, I think the committee will hoist Boise, as they rank the Mountain West over the AAC.
Last, we got the next highest-ranked teams. Simple, here’s who I see as the at-larges: Texas, Alabama, Oregon, Indiana, Tennessee, Penn St, LSU.
Happy hunting everyone.
Where’s The Game?
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The “World’s Largest Cocktail Party” has become a staple in college football and the sports world for the game, the atmosphere, and the pageantry around one of (if not the single) best rivalries in College Football. Each year half of EverBank Stadium, Home to the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars is filled with red and black while half is filled with blue and orange.
Since 1933, all but two Georgia/Florida (or Florida/Georgia depending on which side you sit) matchups have taken place in Jacksonville. But the question raises…Why Jacksonville?
The only matchups since 1933 that haven’t taken place in Jacksonville were in 1994 & 1995 because the Gator Bowl had been demolished, and the (then) Jacksonville Municipal Stadium construction was still in progress as the ‘94 meeting moved to Gainesville & ’95 called Athens home.
1933 wasn’t the first time the two met in Jacksonville, as a matter of fact just the second all-time meeting came in Duval County in 1915.
Leading into the 1933 season, administrators from both schools had talked about moving the game to a neutral site, but where?
Florida Historian Norm Carlson said in an interview with Florida Football that transportation was the reason…
“They moved that game to Jacksonville in 1933 because fans of both schools could easily get there by train,” said Carlson in a 2016 interview. “It turned out right. The game was sold out the first year and from then on that was held in Jacksonville.”
That’s one reason, but if you ask ten historians, you may get ten different answers. So why else has this 80-year tradition stood?
You have to remember back in the early 1900s college football stadiums weren’t the cathedrals they are today, so it wasn’t out of the ordinary for rivalry games across the country to be held at a neutral site to allow for a larger crowd.
Georgia historian Loran Smith said in a 2023 interview with 11Alive in Atlanta, “ “Georgia had a rickety old baseball field which served as the football field. We played Georgia Tech in Atlanta every year for a number of years.”
There have been many conversations about moving this game over the years, but administrators from both sides still see the value of playing in the bigger city.
Jacksonville wasn’t the only neutral site for this game. The first ever meeting between the two took place in Macon while also seeing stops in Tampa (1919) and Savannah (1928 & 1930). Athens has hosted the game five times while Gainesville has only seen this matchup inside the city limits twice (1931 & 1994).
In recent years there has been some questions surrounding the Jaguars rebuilding EverBank Stadium and what would happen to this game, but all parties have an agreed to extend the option in the current contract and keep the game in Jacksonville until at least 2025.
While Georgia is still trying to prove it’s at the elite level in the game, and Florida is trying to get their program right, you can throw it all out the window. The World’s Largest Cocktail Party will be rocking in Duval County!
Playoffs?
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Georgia looked like the best team in the country most of last season. But the College Football Playoff passed without Kirby Smart’s Dawgs because they had to face an elite Rolling Tide in the SEC championship, and the upset win for Nick Saban’s team ended up keeping Georgia out of the playoffs.
Could Georgia fall victim to a brutal schedule in a supersized conference? Could one of college football’s best teams miss the Playoff again? It’s possible after the Bulldogs lost on the road last Saturday at Bama.
Georgia rallied from a 28-0 hole to take the lead before Ryan Williams’ spectacular catch-and-run allowed Alabama to reclaim the lead and secure Kalen DeBoer’s first big win as Crimson Tide coach.
The Bulldogs might have an even tougher game next month at Texas, a team that beat Alabama last season in Tuscaloosa. Texas made the Playoff last year and already routed Michigan in Ann Arbor this year.
Three weeks later, they have another tough road trip to face a loaded Ole Miss roster in Oxford with Playoff hopes of its own (despite a shocking loss Saturday to Kentucky). And a week later Georgia hosts Tennessee, a team as good as any in the country.
Bigger conferences mean schedules are tougher. Among national title contenders, no one has a tougher in-conference schedule than Georgia this year- which is rather inexplicable in the first year of the SEC’s 16-team configuration with Texas and Oklahoma.
All together, the Bulldogs face three opponents ranked in the current top AP top five, plus No. 12 Ole Miss.
It’s still easy enough to assume Georgia can or will win all of their remaining games, considering the Dawgs return quarterback Carson Beck at a program that hasn’t finished lower than No. 7 in the past seven seasons.
But Georgia also got bullied by Alabama for a half before it came alive. Georgia also didn’t score a touchdown until the fourth quarter in a 13-12 win against Kentucky earlier this season.
So, let’s say Georgia, which opened with a quality win over Clemson , navigates the rest of its schedule and avoids landing on the wrong side of any shocking upset.
It’s not unthinkable that Georgia goes 1-2 at Texas, at Ole Miss and home against Tennessee and is sitting at 9-3, likely with just two Top 25 wins on its resume: Clemson and whoever else they can beat. It’s hard to picture it, because Georgia hasn’t lost three regular-season games since Smart’s first season.
If the Bulldogs finish 10-2, they’re in. If they go 9-3, they will have at least one quality conference win and should root for Clemson to win the ACC.
This is Georgia football, if they clinch the Playoff, nobody will want to play them. Can UGA survive the toughest schedule in 2024 and squeak into a championship opportunity?
Napier To Get Chomped?
By: Michael Spiers
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Florida Gators football program is facing serious pressure as they get ready to host UCF at The Swamp.
Despite the team’s recent struggles, Gator fans have stayed loyal, packing the stadium for every game. But their patience might be wearing thin.
Under head coach Billy Napier, the results at home have been mixed—10-6 over two and a half seasons—and this year, Florida’s just 1-2 in Gainesville.
Even more worrying, they’ve lost four of their last five home games, including a painful overtime defeat to Arkansas.
Florida’s current 2-2 record (1-1 SEC) has raised plenty of eyebrows, and Saturday’s game against UCF feels like a must-win, not just for the season, but for Napier’s future as head coach.
Losing to UCF, a team with a much less storied football history, could be a huge blow. Gator boosters and fans aren’t going to accept a loss to a program that started playing in Division III back in 1979. For Napier, a loss could be the final nail in the coffin.
One of Florida’s big problems this season has been their slow starts. Sure, they built a 21-point first-half lead in their win over Mississippi State, but in other games, it’s been a different story.
They were shut out in the first half against Texas A&M and managed just 10 points in the first half of their opening loss to Miami.
Napier knows this has to change, especially at home, where the energy of the crowd can make a big difference. “Starting fast is critical to playing winning football,” he said, hoping the home crowd will help give his team the boost they need.
But the issues go beyond just the slow starts. Florida’s defense has been shaky, to say the least. They’re near the bottom of the SEC in both scoring defense and total defense, allowing way too many points and yards.
After their win against Mississippi State, the Gators had an open week to work on some of their defensive issues, especially when it comes to dealing with fast-paced offenses.
Cornerback Jason Marshall Jr. admitted the team struggled with tempo in the Mississippi State game, saying they sometimes found themselves just standing around, waiting for signals. That’s something they’ve been working on ahead of UCF.
UCF, by the way, will have a familiar face at quarterback: KJ Jefferson. Gator fans will remember him from last year, when he led Arkansas to a shocking upset over Florida at The Swamp.
Jefferson is a dual-threat quarterback, and his size and athleticism will make him tough to handle again. Napier knows it’s going to be a challenge, saying Jefferson creates problems because of his physicality. Marshall also noted that Florida’s defense needs to take away Jefferson’s ability to run and force him to beat them through the air.
On top of all the on-field problems, Florida’s dealing with some off-field headaches too. Recruiting has taken a hit recently, with prospects like four-star safety Demetres Samuel Jr. flipping his commitment from the Gators to Syracuse. Florida’s current recruiting class is ranked 21st in the nation, which isn’t terrible, but it’s far below what Gator fans are used to.
Recruiting experts are already warning that the uncertainty surrounding Napier’s future could make things even worse.
When a coach is on the hot seat, it affects recruiting, creating a vicious cycle of bad results and missed opportunities to bring in top talent. And there’s even more at stake if Napier is fired midseason, thanks to the transfer portal.
Even former Alabama coach Nick Saban chimed in recently, criticizing Florida for cycling through coaches without finding real success since Urban Meyer left.
Saban thinks the issues run deeper than just coaching and pointed to the overall structure of the program as a problem. He suggested that if Florida doesn’t figure things out, they’re going to continue struggling as the season goes on.
So, heading into this weekend, the Gators are at a turning point. Beating UCF could give them a much-needed boost and calm some of the noise surrounding the program.
But another loss, especially at home, might push things even closer to the breaking point for Napier and his staff.
