By: Teddy Bishop

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Okay, is it the Georgia-Florida game, or the Florida-Georgia game?

Well, my oldest son is a Georgia fan, and my youngest son and my daughter are Florida fans, so for the purposes of this article, I’ll just refer to it as THE Game.

The bitin’ Bulldawgs started the season ranked #3 with visions of winning a national championship. And they certainly moved in that direction until the Gamecocks from Columbia (South Carolina, not South America) rolled into Athens (Georgia, not Greece) and upset the Dawgs in double overtime, 20-17. Georgia could still make the playoffs, but, well, not really.

As for Florida, the Giant Water Lizards started the season at #7, having made improvements over the last two seasons. The Lizards from Gainesville (Florida, not Georgia) were rolling merrily along until they had to go to Red Stick, Louisiana and play the Big Kitty Cats. Final score:  42-28.

So, both teams come into THE Game with one loss.

Quarterbacks are always important in THE Game. In Athens, Jake Fromm kicked Justin Fields’ butt on the practice field and sent Fields packing.

Fields appealed for a hardship case, saying a Georgia baseball player was prejudiced. The NCAA bought his story and allowed Fields to play in Columbus (Ohio, not Georgia) without sitting out a season.

The rumor on Fields was that he couldn’t decipher the Dawg playbook and Fromm could.  I guess Ohio State doesn’t have a playbook because Fields has done excellent work for the Buckeyes. (Can anyone tell me what a Buckeye is? I looked it up and it’s either a shrub/tree, a butterfly, or a coupling for a railroad car.  That’s right off the internet, so it’s got to be true.  I originally thought it had something to do with a male deer’s vision capacity, but apparently not. By the way, do you know the difference between beer nuts and deer nuts?  Beer nuts cost $4.95. Deer nuts are under a buck.)

At any rate, Justin Fields has taken Ohio State to a #3 ranking while the Dawgs have fallen to #10, making some people suggest that Kirby Smart should have kept Fields and let Jake Fromm at the mouth.

Speaking of Smart, Kirby has done an excellent job in Athens, despite the loss to SC.

Down in the swamp, Dan Mullen has Gator fans talking national championship again, but not this year.

When Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks left the Kentucky game with a season-ending injury, backup Kyle Trask entered the game and took the Lizards to a comeback win. And Trask has played well, the LSU game notwithstanding.

Georgia’s offensive line is very good, and that could be a key to THE Game. They’ve opened holes for D’Andre to show how Swift he is. The Dawgs also have some pretty good receivers as do the Lizards. It could come down to the running game.

Whichever team can establish the running game early should have the inside track to winning the game.

THE Game will be played in Jacksonville (a neutral site) again, although Kirby Smart has expressed an interest in a home-and-home series. Tailgating will start at least a day ahead of time, even in Brunswick (Georgia, not Maine).

I guess it has come down to predicting the final score, so here goes:  24-17. (Smiley Face!)