One of the greatest traditions in college sports is the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. A great venue for really any kind of sports fan to get together, have some food, get a good daytime buzz on, and go watch some college football.
Then there is the football part of this tradition. Two teams that will once again go at each other to see who will have bragging rights for the next year. Not only that but the outlook of the SEC East could either be decided after Saturday or once again become a messy race to the finish.
What this game means
For Georgia, a win against Florida would put them in cruise control for a division title, sitting at 5-0 in conference play. Everyone else in the division has at least two SEC losses. Up until this point, Georgia hasn’t played many tough opponents– I know I said Notre Dame wasn’t a good win before but with what has happened the last few weeks it now has become, so chill- and while beating a struggling Florida team doesn’t seem like a good win, it’ll somewhat break the chain of Florida’s dominance over Georgia. Assuming they win, Georgia would still only be 7-20 against Florida since 1990. However, being 4-3 since 2010 could show the tides are now shifting into Georgia’s favor. So there is a lot more at stake for Georgia than people realize.
For Florida, the season will be over if they lose this game as they will be 3-4 on the season. Losing three straight games, all of which would be against SEC teams. However, if they win, Florida would keep their slim chances of a three-peat of getting their tails whipped by Alabama in the Conference Final alive. On a serious note, a win against a Georgia team ranked 3rd in the nation would be a huge wave of confidence for Florida. After this game, they seem to play a bunch of teams who are either average or straight up trash. Their toughest games are against South Carolina and Florida State, whoa.
Overview
On paper, this seems like a clear mismatch that favors Georgia entirely. They have played better football on all three sides of the ball, and are better coached. They are in much better position to make some noise. So the rational thing would be picking Georgia to win this game. On the other hand, back in 2014, Georgia was ranked 11th in the country and sitting at 6-1 (4-1) on the season and were also big favorites against a Florida team who was just 3-3 (2-3) and seemed to be done. Yet, it was Florida who came out on top and smacked down the Bulldogs 38-20.
On that note, I do not believe Florida will win this game. I do think that this game will be much more intense and a lot closer than anticipated, though. When it’s between these kind of rivals you can throw everything out the window more times than not.