Florida–Georgia football rivalry

The Florida–Georgia football rivalry is an American college football rivalry game played annually by the University of Florida Gators and the University of Georgia Bulldogs. The programs first met in 1904 or 1915 (the status of the first game is disputed) and have played every season since 1926 except for a war-time interruption in 1943. It is one of the most prominent rivalry games in college football, and it has been held in Jacksonville, Florida since 1933, with only two exceptions, making it one of the few remaining neutral-site rivalries in college football. The game attracts huge crowds to Jacksonville, and the associated tailgating and other events earned it the nickname of the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party", although that name is no longer used officially.

Though highly contested on both sides, the series has gone through several periods in which one team has been dominant for well over a decade. Georgia dominated the early series while Florida held a clear advantage in the 1950s and early 1960s. Georgia again dominated from the mid-60s through the 80s under coach Vince Dooley, while Florida took the upper hand in the rivalry during the 1990s and early 2000s under coaches Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer. More recently, the series has been more evenly balanced. Beginning with the 2007 contest, the fierce rivals enjoyed and then suffered through alternating sets of three-game win streaks. That trend ended in 2020, with Florida winning in 2020 and Georgia winning in 2021 and 2022.

Series history

Disputed beginnings

The two universities do not agree on when their gridiron rivalry began. The University of Georgia's athletic department considers a 52–0 victory in 1904 against a school known as the University of Florida to be part of the series.
2011 Georgia Football Media Guide
'', University of Georgia Athletic Department, Athens, Georgia, pp. 157 & 158 (2011). Retrieved August 19, 2011. However, this was not the modern University of Florida in Gainesville, but one of its four predecessor institutions: a school based in Lake City that was known as Florida Agricultural College before 1903. Florida's University Athletic Association does not include this game in the series record as it occurred before the modern university was established by the Florida Legislature with the Buckman Act of 1905 and before the new school in Gainesville fielded its first football team in 1906.
2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 116 & 126 (2011). Retrieved August 19, 2011. UGA sports historian Dan Magill sums up Georgia's attitude: "That's where Florida was back then. We can't help it if they got run out of Lake City."

The first game in the rivalry acknowledged by both schools took place in Jacksonville in 1915. The series has been played annually since 1926 except in 1943, when Florida did not field a team due to World War II.

Series trends

Georgia dominated the early rivalry. Florida did not score a single point against the Bulldogs until their fifth (or sixth) meeting. The Gators won their first two games against Georgia in 1928 and 1929, when coach Charlie Bachman's squads briefly brought Florida's football program to national prominence. However, after a scoreless tie in 1930, Georgia resumed its dominance, winning fifteen out of the next seventeen games in the series as coach Wally Butts led the Bulldogs to several SEC championships while the Gators suffered through a period of mediocrity in the 1930s and 1940s. Florida finally enjoyed longer-term success in the rivalry in the 1950s under coach Bob Woodruff, a trend that continued into the 1960s under coach Ray Graves. The hiring of new Georgia coach Vince Dooley in 1964 evened the rivalry for the remainder of the decade, and in the 1970s and 1980s, his Bulldog squads usually won the game in Jacksonville while winning a national championship in 1980 along the way. Coach Steve Spurrier's arrival in Gainesville turned the rivalry back around beginning in 1990, and his Gator squads went 11–1 against the Bulldogs. Coach Urban Meyer continued Florida's winning trend through the mid-2000s, but the rivalry has been unusually even since 2008. Florida began a three game series win streak in that season, which was followed by a three game Georgia streak, then another three game streak for Florida, which was answered by three Georgia wins, marking the longest evenly-divided dozen years in series history.

Since the 1960s, the Florida–Georgia rivalry often held conference or national championship implications for one or both teams, and both schools have had title hopes dashed in the game, sometimes in a surprising upset. In 1966, the Bulldogs intercepted 3 passes by eventual Heisman Trophy winner Steve Spurrier, derailing the Gators' title hopes in a 27–10 upset. On the other hand, Florida's upset win over Georgia in 2002 was the Bulldogs' only loss of the season and likely cost them a chance to play for a national championship. The rivalry has taken on even more importance since the SEC split into divisions in 1992. Both teams were placed in the SEC East, meaning that the contest has often decided who will play in the SEC Championship Game. To date, Florida has fifteen Eastern Division titles while Georgia has ten.

Site of game

The Florida–Georgia game has often been held at off-campus sites since the very beginning of the rivalry. Florida's first on-campus stadium. Fleming Field, was quite small, so Florida's early teams usually played "home" games against major college opposition somewhere other than Gainesville. Before 1930, Florida-Georgia contests were held in Jacksonville (three times), Savannah (twice), and Tampa (once), along with several Georgia home games in Athens. (The disputed 1904 game was played in Macon, Georgia, another neutral site.)

Florida Field