Top-ranked Gators, unranked Dogs cross paths

By Tim Tucker

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

JACKSONVILLE -- They come from different directions, the Florida Gators from atop the polls and the Georgia Bulldogs from off the radar.

But when they meet Saturday afternoon in Jacksonville Municipal Stadium and on CBS, both the top-ranked, undefeated Gators and the unranked, thrice-beaten Bulldogs will have something oddly in common: doubters.

Three consecutive lackluster wins have raised questions about the Gators' previously presumed invincibility, with Florida fans fretting the recent fallibility of the Tim Tebow-led offense. And if there are nagging questions about the 7-0 Gators, well, there are raging doubts about the 4-3 Bulldogs.

It should be an interesting afternoon on the banks of the St. Johns River, where temperatures are forecast to reach the upper 80s.

After all that happened in the past two games between these rivals -- the Dogs dancing in the end zone early in a 42-30 victory in 2007 and the Gators calling two timeouts as payback late in a 49-10 victory in 2008 -- who knows what 2009 might bring?

Florida, which has won 17 consecutive games, will be trying to take another step toward the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta and, beyond that, a possible shot at a second consecutive national championship.

And Georgia, which is all but out of the SEC East race with two league losses, will be trying for a signature victory to invigorate a forlorn season.

"With us being an unranked team playing the No. 1 team ... we want to use this game as a great opportunity to turn our season around," Georgia quarterback Joe Cox said. "That's what we're going for."

Well, that and a bit more:

"If you can give the No. 1 team its first loss in [18] games, I'm comfortable with that," Georgia safety Bryan Evans said. "As well as hopefully ruining their national championship run. I'd feel great about that as well."

This is the second time in 13 years that Georgia enters the Florida game unranked. And an upset by the 15-point underdog Dogs would be the second victory in UGA football history against a top-ranked team.

Despite the lofty ranking, and despite Tebow's presence, Florida has looked pretty pedestrian on offense of late. The Gators have scored touchdowns on only two of their past 15 trips into the red zone. They have committed six turnovers and allowed nine sacks in their past two games. They have dropped to 80th in the nation in passing offense, which makes for a perversely interesting matchup against Georgia's 90th-in-the-nation passing defense.

But, hey, the Gators still have the SEC's best running game and the nation's best defense and, oh yes, a 7-0 record.

"You can find faults with everything," Florida coach Urban Meyer said this week. "It seems like every week we say, ‘If we just do this or just do that ..."

But as others quibbled about the Gators' flaws, Georgia coach Mark Richt dismissed the nitpicking.

“I’ll say this: Florida is undefeated," he said. "I think they're doing pretty darn good."

The Bulldogs, on the other hand, have been pretty darn erratic. Although encouraged by a win at Vanderbilt on Oct. 17 and rejuvenated by last week's open date, they know they'll have to play better by far than in any game this season to have a shot at beating the Gators.