Bishop Media Sports Network
Let’s Play Here
By: Jeff Doke
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For over nine decades, the annual clash between the Georgia Bulldogs and Florida Gators has been more than a football game; it’s a cultural phenomenon.
Hosted almost exclusively in Jacksonville since 1933, this SEC rivalry draws over 80,000 rabid fans to EverBank Stadium, injecting an estimated $50 million into the local economy each year through hotel stays, bar tabs, and Bulldog-Gator-fueled revelry along the St. Johns River.
But as EverBank Stadium, the 30-year-old home of the Jacksonville Jaguars, faced obsolescence, whispers grew about relocating the game permanently to campus sites or other neutral venues.
Enter the “Stadium of the Future.”
A renovation project that’s not just revitalizing an aging sports facility but safeguarding Jacksonville’s cherished tradition, the $1.4 billion project was approved unanimously by NFL owners in October 2024.
The overhaul began in February 2025 and is slated for completion by the 2028 season.
Funded roughly equally by the city and Jaguars owner Shad Khan, the project commits the team to a 30-year lease, dispelling relocation fears.
Construction will disrupt play. Jaguars games will run at reduced capacity in 2026 before the team relocates temporarily to either Orlando or Gainesville in 2027 but crucially, it spares the 2025 Florida-Georgia matchup.
More importantly, the upgrades are engineered to lure the rivalry back post-renovation, ensuring its return from 2028 to 2031 under a freshly inked four-year extension announced in November 2024.
At the heart of this strategy is expanded capacity tailored for college football’s biggest bashes. EverBank’s current setup holds 67,838 for Jaguars games but swells to over 82,000 for the Cocktail Party with temporary seating.
The renovated stadium drops to a sleek 63,000 permanent seats for NFL action—optimizing sightlines and revenue but boasts expandable configurations up to 71,500, with potential for 70,000-plus in special-event mode.
This isn’t arbitrary; university athletic directors from Florida and Georgia collaborated directly on the design, insisting on features that accommodate the game’s unique chaos: massive tailgate zones, riverfront access for yachts, and reinforced structures for the influx of RVs and vendors that turn Jacksonville into the epicenter of college football.
The upgrades go far beyond seating. A groundbreaking protective canopy will shade fans from Florida’s brutal sun and afternoon thunderstorms, creating a climate-controlled bowl that feels premium without enclosing the open-air vibe.
Wider elevated concourses will ease the pre-game crush, while new seating tiers offer everything from field-level suites to sky-high club seats.
Enhanced digital tech, including upgraded lighting, massive video boards, and seamless Wi-Fi, ensures modern amenities like instant replays and app-based concessions, appealing to younger demographics in an era of streaming and NIL deals.
The current deal nets each university $5-5.5 million annually, but post-2028, payouts jump to at least $10 million per school, plus travel stipends ($350,000 for Georgia, $60,000 for Florida).
Unlike before, Jacksonville retains all ticket, concession, and merchandise revenue, making the game profitable for the city while sweetening the pot for the schools.
During the interim, $1.5 million per university in 2026 and 2027 covers relocation to Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium—neutral sites that preserve the game’s off-campus ethos but lack Jax’s intimate, party-hard charm.
Skeptics might point to college football’s seismic shifts; conference realignments, playoff expansions, and revenue chases that moved the Red River Rivalry fully on-site.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart once floated playing at Sanford Stadium for recruiting perks, but the mutual $10 million guarantee and Jacksonville’s proven track record quashed that. The city’s deep ties, from co-sponsoring RV lots to hosting fan fests, create an unmatched ecosystem.
By 2028, when the Gators and Bulldogs return, EverBank won’t just be renovated, it’ll be reborn as a multipurpose marvel, drawing concerts, WrestleMania, and more while prioritizing this annual October ritual.
The upgrades don’t merely fix a leaky roof; they fortify a legacy, ensuring Jacksonville remains the beating heart of college football’s wildest weekend.
In a sport chasing the next billion, sometimes the best play is doubling down on tradition.
Fool’s Gold
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
As the college football season progresses, more coaches will get fired.
For example, Brian Kelly was just fired at LSU. The #20 Tigers lost at home to #3 Texas A&M on Saturday, 49-25.
Kelly was 34-14 in his tenure at LSU, which was a little over three years. This is a prestigious position that is now available. We know that Penn State, UCLA, Arkansas and Florida are also looking for a new head coach.
A name that we keep hearing anytime a high-profile position opens up is Lane Kiffin.
As you know, he’s currently at Ole Miss. He just led the #8 Rebels to a road win over #13 Oklahoma, 34-26. They have moved up one spot in this week’s AP Poll.
He has been linked to the Florida job and he addressed his team about that before the game.
“I just mentioned it to them [Friday], Kiffin said. “That’s a product of having a program with a lot of players and coaches doing a really good job. I probably wouldn’t even have mentioned it, because they’ve been through this every year. Probably four years in a row, but we have so many new guys. I just told them, ‘Hey guys, that’s what happens around here because we win games and people like the style that we play in. ‘That’s all a compliment to the players.”
He’s now going to be mentioned for the LSU job but I want to know, is he actually a good fit for these positions?
Kiffin has a checkered past up to this point. He was a head coach for the Oakland Raiders from 2007-08 and he had a 5-15 record. He was fired after a 1-3 start during his second season.
He took over as the head coach at Tennessee in 2009 and went 7-6 in his lone season with the Vols.
Kiffin was an assistant coach at USC from 2002-06. He left Tennessee in January of 2010 for the USC job. Clearly this was a dream job for him at a blue-blood program. The Trojans had recent success during the 2000’s, winning national championships under Pete Carroll.
This should have been a great job for Kiffin but he underperformed. His overall record was 28-15 and he was fired five games into the 2013 season.
His best season was 2011 and his team finished 10-2. Going into the 2012 season the Trojans were ranked #1 in both polls. They finished 7-6.
He accepted the offensive coordinator job at Alabama on January 10, 2014. He held that position for the Crimson Tide from 2014-16.
He accepted the head coaching job at Florida Atlantic and was relieved of his duties as OC in January 2017. Alabama made the College Football Playoffs but they did not want him coaching after he accepted that position.
In three seasons at FAU Kiffin went 26-13. He had a losing record in his second season but he won at least ten games in his first and third season.
He’s been the head coach at Ole Miss since 2020 and his record is 51-19. Kiffin has three 10-win-or-more seasons with Ole Miss.
Kiffin has been around for a long time and he’s had varying degrees of success. I think he will leave Ole Miss for a better job but there are so many to choose from now. It will be interesting to see where he ends up.
Let’s Agree To Disagree
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The annual rivalry between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Florida Gators is unquestionably one of (some would argue the single best) best rivalries in college football.
That is one of the very few things that the two teams and fanbases can agree on.
They don’t agree on the name. If you’re dawned in red and black, it’s the Georgia/Florida game. If you’re dressed head to toe in orange and royal blue, it’s the Florida/Georgia game. They certainly don’t agree on who the better team or players are and heck, they don’t even agree on when the first game is!
In the history books in Athens, Georgia recognizes the first matchup with Florida took place in Macon, Georgia way back in 1904. Georgia ended up with the victory with a final score of 52-0.
The only problem was that contest wasn’t against what we know as the Florida program. The 1904 meeting saw the Dawgs square off against the “University of Florida Blue and White” that was based out of Lake City, FL (about 45 miles north of Gainesville) and had been known as in the years prior as Florida Agriculture College. This institution was one of four predecessors to the modern-day University of Florida in Gainesville.
The current University of Florida was officially established in 1905 and created a football team beginning in 1906 (almost 2 years after what Georgia claims as the first meeting). The current Florida Gators athletics records don’t include games played by predecessor institutions.
Georgia, however, is adamant that the game counts. Georgia historian and former tennis coach Dan Magill told author of the book “I Love Georgia/I Hate Florida,” Patrick Garbin that “That’s where Florida was back then. We can’t help it if they got run out of Lake City.”
While Florida doesn’t claim the first game in the series against Georgia, the University of Florida does claim traces back to the 1850s on their UF website:
“The University of Florida traces its beginnings to 1853 when the state-funded East Florida Seminary acquired the private Kingsbury Academy in Ocala. After the Civil War, the seminary was moved to Gainesville. It was consolidated with the state’s land-grant Florida Agricultural College, then in Lake City, to become the University of Florida in 1905 and the Gainesville site for the campus was chosen in 1906. Classes began on September 26, 1906, for 102 students.”
The first mutually agreed upon contest took place in Jacksonville on a mid-October afternoon in 1915. The result wasn’t quite as lopsided but resulted in a Georgia convincing win over Florida 37-0.
It took thirteen years for Florida to notch their first victory in the budding rivalry, defeating Georgia 26-6 in 1928.
The two teams have met every year since 1926 aside from the 1943 season when Florida didn’t field of team due to World War II
Although the first mutually agreed game was in Jacksonville, it wasn’t until 1933 when the city became the official home for the game and has been the home for all but two (1994 and 1995) since that 1933 meeting.
So, when the stadium is divided and the 104th meeting (or 103rd depending on which camp you’re in) kicks off, remember the history runs deep. The history of passion, football and not agreeing on anything…not even when the hate started.
Jason Bishop Show October 23 2025
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show w Brandon Derrick Oct 22 2025
Brunswick High Pirates Coach’s Show w Garrett Grady October 22 2025
Brantley County Herons Coach’s Show w David Shores October 22 2025
Another Conquest
By: Jeff Doke
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For the first time since 2022, the Frederica Academy Knights are Region Champions in the GIAA AAAA/AAA Region 2.
After convincing back-to-back wins against long-time rivals Bulloch Academy and Pinewood Christian Academy, Coach Brandon Derrick’s Knights have secured the region crown regardless of the outcome of their final region game against St. Andrews this Friday night.
Opening region play against the Gators on October 9th, the Knights were looking to even some scores against their most heated rivals.
With their 2024 shutout victory in Statesboro, Bulloch Academy tied the all-time record between the two schools at 6 wins apiece and handed the Knights their first shut-out loss since the 2020 State Championship game loss to John Milledge Academy.
This year would be a different story. The Knights would take a 7-3 lead into the halftime locker room before opening things up in the second half, closing the night with a 35-20 victory.
The highlight play of the night was arguably the 90-yard halfback option passing touchdown to WR Braxton Sykes from RB Jaylen Baldwin. Baldwin also had both a rushing touchdown and receiving touchdown on the night.
Frederica followed up the 2025 region debut with a matchup against another long-time adversary, Pinewood Christian Academy.
The Knights had battled back against the Patriots to a 7-7 tie in the all-time matchup after starting 0-5 in the early days of the rivalry.
For the second week in a row, Coach Derrick’s team would break the all-time tie and extend their winning streak to four games against the boys from Bellville, notching their second region win to the tune of 28-14.
While Jaylen Baldwin once again had two touchdowns on the night, the play of the game – if not the season – came in the 2nd quarter when 6’7” 225 lb. Sophomore TE JC Wessel caught a 4th down pass on the 10 yard line and carried four Pinewood defenders from there into the endzone.
Region play wraps up for Frederica on October 24 with a trip to Savannah to take on St. Andrews.
The Lions – currently playing at Daffin Park next to Historic Greyson Stadium due to field upgrades at their Wilmington Island campus – come into the matchup with a 3-6 record but winless in region play.
St Andrews has never beaten Frederica, with the 7-0 loss in 2020 the only match that was within three scores.
To be bluntly realistic, the chances that coach Derrick’s squad doesn’t end the week with an undefeated Region Championship are very, very low.
That being said, the outlook for the playoffs is promising, but less than perfect. The GIAA uses MaxPreps rankings to seed their playoff brackets.
This puts Frederica at the #5 position in the Division, just behind Valwood and ahead of Tiftarea Academy.
If this ranking stays the same after this weekend’s matches, it means Frederica will get a 1st Round bye but will not get a home playoff game.
One thing that may affect the ranking is the final decision in regard to the weather-shortened 14-7 loss to West Nassau High in Week 2.
Lightning in the area suspended play with about a minute left in the 1st quarter and never resumed.
If the two coaches can agree to wipe the “game” from the site, it might be enough to vault Frederica into the #4 seed, however the head-to-head loss against Valwood in Week 3 will more than likely complicate the matter.
More than likely, if the seeding does not change, the Knights will be making a 2nd round road trip to either Westfield or Valwood.
The Knights are 2-0 all-time versus Westfield (two lopsided wins in 2018 & 2019) but are currently on a five-game losing streak to Valwood after going 4-5 against the Valiants in their first nine matchups.
The Likely Candidates
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Dear Scott Stricklin and all associated with the search for Florida’s fifth football coach since 2011: Stop messing around. Go get Lane Kiffin. Or at least try to. And if you fail, go get Eli Drinkwitz.
Try and keep trying until you hire a proven winner at the power-conference level.
Adopt the mindset of your rivals, like the team you’re about to play. Think, if you were Georgia, who would you not want Florida to hire? And then do everything you can to hire that person.
You’ve tried the other routes. When Urban Meyer left, you went with the hotshot assistant who knew the SEC. But Will Muschamp just wasn’t made out to be a head coach.
Then you tried the former SEC assistant who had won at a lower level. But Jim McElwain wasn’t a winning fit.
Then you went with Dan Mullen, who had been a Florida assistant and won at Mississippi State — seven out of nine winning seasons, and had worked for Stricklin there.
But as it turned out, Mullen’s lukewarm approach to recruiting in the name of systemic growth and talent development, while successful at Mississippi State, did not mesh at Florida.
And so, then you went in another direction, and hired Billy Napier, a recruiting maven from his SEC days, who had won as a Sun Belt head coach. But while he did upgrade the talent level, the head coaching didn’t translate to the SEC.
And so now here you are. It’s time to stop messing around.
Kiffin may not want to leave Ole Miss. Or may not want to take Florida. He’s doing well where he is, where he has administrative and financial support to build a roster. He may wonder why four straight coaches have failed in Gainesville.
But he’s also ambitious. He came of age when Steve Spurrier brought Florida to the forefront of college football. He was a rising assistant when Meyer won a couple of national titles there — then battled Meyer in his one season at Tennessee.
Should Florida be wary of Kiffin? Maybe, but for all his quirks, he’s proving he knows how to win in the portal/NIL era. He still knows how to run an offense. He would bring attention to the Gators and make them must-see football again. Make him say no.
And if he does, turn to Drinkwitz, who also likes to talk, is also an offensive-minded coach who knows how to build a roster in this era. And who is also winning in the SEC.
Ah, you may say, wouldn’t that just be going the Mullen route again? Drinkwitz is 44-25 overall and 24-21 in the SEC, versus Mullen going 69-46 overall and 33-39 in the SEC.
It can be argued that it’s much harder to win at Mississippi State than at Missouri. You could even discount Drinkwitz’s one-year stint at Appalachian State (12-1), given he took over a strong program.
The counter-argument is that Drinkwitz is a stronger recruiter. He has leveraged NIL to bring talent to Missouri. His last two high school classes ranked 20th in the nation. He kept five-star receiver Luther Burden at home in the 2022 high school class. He’s managed the portal, bringing in quarterback Beau Pribula (Penn State) and edge rusher Damon Wilson (Georgia) this past offseason. There’s real resourcefulness in his systems.
Give him Florida’s tradition and resources, and he should at least be able to recruit at Napier’s level. And the evidence is that Drinkwitz could outcoach him.
Missouri has had two straight 10-win seasons and is 6-1 this year. It has the SEC’s second-ranked defense, doing quite fine two years after LSU hired away its defensive coordinator.
Of course, Drinkwitz may also like where he is. So, what happens if you strike out with him?
Then maybe you go the Jon Sumrall (Tulane) route. Or you try to find the next Kirby Smart or Dan Lanning. Maybe that’s Will Stein, the 36-year-old Oregon offensive coordinator.
But Florida, you’ve tried those routes before. And your athletic director has struck out twice on hires now.
After taking chances with your past exes, It’s time for a sure thing in hiring a winning head coach. It’s time to do your best to make a sitting, successful power-conference coach say yes to bringing Florida back to glory.
Kiffin should be the first call. Drinkwitz should be the next. And there are some other names out there who deserve at least some back-channel talk.
You are Florida. Maybe it’s asking too much to return to the dominant days of Spurrier and Meyer, but nobody’s getting back to that level of dominance, at least not in the SEC in 2025.
What you can do at Florida is consistent contention for the College Football Playoff.
For all their failures, Muschamp, McElwain and Mullen each had at least one 10-win season in Gainesville. It was sustaining consistent winning seasons that ended up being the problem. And the longer you go without hiring the right guy, the more people forget the Spurrier and Meyer glory days. The harder it’ll get to reclaim them.
This is a huge hire, Florida. No more time for gambles and budget-friendly staff. Good professionals hire good professionals. Go get yourself the guy who you know — and who your rivals know — will win.
McIntosh County Academy Buccaneers Coach’s Show w Bradley Warren October 21 2025
