Here’s your backdrop for Georgia-Florida 2013: Neither team is ranked in the Top 25, they have six losses between them and together 10 of their star players are sidelined with injuries.
On the surface, it would not appear a matchup worthy of national attention. But don’t tell that to the participants.
“This game’s probably a lot more important to us and Florida than it is to the rest of the country right now, both being out of the Top 25 and for all intents and purposes, out of the national championship hunt,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said.
“… But the main focus for me and the staff and the team is the fact that it is Georgia-Florida. It’s just a game that is very meaningful to everybody. I mean, it’s no coincidence that fall break is this week.”
No, when it comes to Georgia and Florida competing in this annual neutral-field rivalry by the St. Johns River, championship implications merely are a minor subplot to the mutual disdain that spans 11 decades. For these teams, just beating the other is all the motivation required.
“It’s the unwritten rule in the SEC: Georgia and Florida hate each other,” said Georgia tight end Arthur Lynch, a senior from Dartmouth, Mass. “It grows on you. All you need is one game week here under this coaching staff to really fall in love with the hatred everyone has for Florida. And it’s not a one-way street. They legitimately hate us, too… . It’s a deep-rooted hate.
“It feels like I’ve had it since I was a little kid, and I didn’t start coming until I was playing in the game. I’ll raise my kids to hate Florida.”
Actually, it’s the lack of championship implications that makes this game so meaningful to both sides this year.
At the beginning of the season, this game looked as if it would be a crossroads for whatever team was going to represent the East at the SEC Championship game. Georgia was the consensus choice to win the division and play in the Georgia Dome again, but the thought was that if any team could trip it up, it would be the Gators.
Nine weeks later, there remains only mathematical equations involving losses by Missouri that will get either team to Atlanta. Both are 4-3 overall, 3-2 in the SEC, both have lost two in a row and both are coming off back-to-back losses and an off week.
Saturday’s loser not only will be out of the East race, but will be in for an offseason of turmoil and unrest.
“This game means so much because it means so little,” said Gary Danielson, lead analyst for CBS, which will broadcast the contest nationwide.
“Both of these teams entered the season thinking they could compete for the national championship, and the loser of this game is going to have a devastated season. That creates a whole lot of pressure in this football game.”
It’s not hard to trace their downfalls. Both teams are in this situation because their rosters have been ravaged by injuries. Georgia will have four starters sidelined, which is half the number that were out when the Bulldogs left Vanderbilt as 31-27 losers two weeks ago. Tailback Todd Gurley (ankle), wide receiver Michael Bennett (knee) and safeties Josh Harvey-Clemons (foot) and Tray Matthews (hamstring) are returning for this game.
Florida is more damaged. The Gators will play without six starters, including left tackle D.J. Humphries, who suffered a knee injury in practice Monday. He joins a list that includes quarterback Jeff Driskel (ankle), running back Matt Jones (knee) and defensive tackle Dominique Easley (knee).
“It’s a critical game for us, obviously, being a great rival of the University of Florida and a great rivalry game,” said Will Muschamp, who is 0-2 as the Gators’ head coach and was 0-4 as a UGA player.
“It’s one of the best college football games to be a part of year-in, year-out. It’s exciting to be a part of it, but there’s no question where we are in our season. It’s an SEC East opponent and a great rival. It’s an important game for us.”
Likewise, there is no lack of interest from the respective fan bases. The Landing in Jacksonville and the “RV Village” surrounding EverBank Field have been packed and jumping all week as usual. And the condominium, hotels and restaurants dotting the coasts of Northeast Florida and South Georgia are thriving from the influx of business.
“We’re almost at 100 percent occupancy compared to maybe 30 percent last year,” said Mandy Carter, a Florida realtor and rental manager of The Pelicans Condominiums on Amelia Island, Fla.
“I have only one condo remaining, and that’s a surprise. I was talking to the mailman, and he said it’s that way up and down the island. We were laughing that if one more car drives over the bridge, we’re going to sink in the ocean. The locals are saying, ‘wow.’”
People who watch Saturday’s game likely will say ‘wow’ when it’s over. This rivalry has been known to produce some of the great moments in the history of college football, and this year’s teams are as closely matched as ever.
Georgia is led by the SEC’s all-time leader passer in Aaron Murray and an offense that’s slowly getting back to full strength. But the Bulldogs have been dogged by a young defense and mistake-prone special teams. Florida features one of the SEC’s better defenses, but ranks last in the league in scoring (21.1 ppg).
“It’s going to be a pretty evenly matched game,” Richt said. “We haven’t played a game that wasn’t very, very close.”
