By: Capers Childs

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

For the first time since 1995, Georgia and Florida won’t meet in Jacksonville. This year’s game, set for Oct. 31, moves to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, and the two teams walking into it look nothing like what anyone expected a week ago.

Starting with Georgia, the Bulldogs came into Week 7 ranked No. 1 and unbeaten in SEC play at 4-0. Auburn, a team that was just 1-2 in the conference, showed up at Sanford Stadium and left with a 27-24 win. Alex McPherson’s 34-yard field goal as time expired sealed the win and ended Georgia’s nine-game winning streak in the series.

The frustrating part for Georgia is that they had a real chance to escape. The Bulldogs rallied to tie it late in the fourth quarter. However, Gunner Stockton fumbled in the final minute, giving Auburn the chance to take the lead.

The Tigers made it count. Georgia fell to 6-1 overall and 4-1 in the SEC, and slid to No. 5 in the AP poll, ending its undefeated start to the season.

Florida’s Saturday went the other direction. The Gators traveled to Austin and trailed No. 7 Texas 17-0, a deficit that would be difficult for any road team to overcome.

Instead, Florida scored 24 unanswered points and won 27-24. Freshman quarterback Tramell Jones Jr., made his first career start, threw two touchdown passes, both to tight end Lakota Dippre. Running back Jadan Baugh then added the go-ahead touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

The win moved Florida to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the SEC, marking a statement victory for first-year coach Jon Sumrall.

He arrived in Gainesville after leading Tulane to the College Football Playoff in 2025, and a road comeback like this against a ranked opponent is exactly the kind of result that he needed to see. Atlanta will be his first Georgia-Florida game.

Those two results were part of a bigger shock. Five of the top seven teams in the AP Top 25 lost Saturday, Oct. 17, which made it one of the wildest weekends of the season so far.

Nobody at the top of the rankings looked safe, and that matters here, because the SEC race looks more open now than it did a week ago.

Both teams are off in Week 8, but the break means different things for each program.

Georgia gets time to regroup after its first loss of the season and evaluate how a late rally turned into a last-second defeat.

Meanwhile, Florida can build on its momentum and continue developing under Sumrall. For the Gators, who will be facing a Georgia team that has dominated this series lately, the extra preparation could be a game-changer.

History is still on Georgia’s side. The Bulldogs have won the last five meetings and eight of the last nine, including a 24-20 victory last season.

Florida has to change that trend, and it has to do it away from Jacksonville, in a building that is not home for either team.

The setting is new, but the stakes inside the SEC are not.

There are a few things worth watching when the teams do meet. Can Georgia protect the football after Stockton’s 3 turnovers against Auburn? Can Florida’s freshman quarterback handle a rivalry atmosphere if he’s under center again? And can Sumrall’s team show that the comeback in Austin was a sign of who the Gators are rather than a one-week surprise? None of those questions have an answer yet.

Georgia and Florida will finally get their answers on Oct. 31 in Atlanta. And after the unexpected results of Week 7, the rivalry could have a different outcome this year.