The South Eastern Conference lives off rivalries. Almost every Saturday, SEC teams meet on the gridiron in historic rivalry games. Alabama annually squares off with Tennessee in their "third Saturday in October" meeting. Auburn and Georgia meet in a usually very big late season meeting. Arkansas and LSU save their battle for the Golden Boot for the final game every season. Of course there is the Iron Bowl, that many rivalries, if any, in the country can match. However, one of the biggest conference rivalry games played annually is Florida vs Georgia...or Georgia vs Florida which ever you prefer. In the passed 30 seasons more than once has this game not only SEC championship hopes on the line, but national championship implications and this season's match up in Jacksonville will be no different as both need a win to get to Atlanta and keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive.
-Why Jacksonville? One historic SEC rivalry that maybe the most unique is the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party that takes place on the banks of Jacksonville's St Johns River. Florida and Georgia first played each other in 1915, and since 1926 have played each other annually. One of the more disputed games in this rivalry actually took place in 1904. Of course any Georgia Bulldog fan will tell you that 1904 game certainly counted in the series record, however a Florida Gator fan will tell you that it doesn't count since the Gators didn't actually field a varsity team until 1906. Nevertheless Georgia leads this storied rivalry 50-41-2 (or 49-41-2....depending on which fan base you ask). The game was first played in Jacksonville, Florida in 1915, but was occasionally played in Tampa, Gainesville, Athens, and Savannah between 1916 and 1932. It wasn't until 1933 that the game was officially moved to Jacksonville. The Idea of playing on Florida's northeast coast was actually introduced by University of Florida President John J. Tigert. While attendance to college football games suffered during the Great Depression, Tigert felt it would be in the best interest of both schools to play the game in Jacksonville where the convenience of train stations and buses helped bring in fans from both teams. From 1933 to 1993 the game was played in Jacksonville with out interruption. The game was once again moved back to both teams' campuses in 1994 and 1995 while Jacksonville Municipal Stadium was undergoing renovations. -Greatest Games. 1980: Run Lindsay, Run! Although both Florida and Georgia have had some great match ups in this game over the years, both sides would have to agree that the most memorable meeting between the two happened in 1980. Vince Dooley's Georgia team entered the game ranked 2nd in the nation, but it was the underdog Gators who looked like they might leave Jacksonville with the upset. Georgia trailed 21-20 with third and long to go from their own 7 yard line. Scrambling for his life, Georgia quarterback Buck Belue hit Lindsay Scott on a 25 yard pass. Streaking down the sideline, Scott outran the Florida defense for the improbable 93 yard game winning touchdown. In one of the most memorable radio calls in college football history, Larry Munson, Georgia's play by play announcer, recorded this famous call: "Florida in a stand-up five, they may or may not blitz. Buck back, third down on the eight. In trouble, he got a block behind him. Gotta throw on the run. Complete to the 25. To the 30, Lindsay Scott 35, 40, Lindsay Scott 45, 50, 45, 40 . . . Run Lindsay, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5, Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott!" Georgia would go on to win the national championship that season. 1984: Bell to Nattiel Florida had suffered several close losses to Georgia throughout the 70's and early 80's and the Gators had no reason to feel comfortable with a 17-0 lead over the Bulldogs at half time. In the second half Georgia was able to mount a long drive however, a goal line stand by the Gators seemed to have stuffed the Bulldogs momentum. If Georgia felt they had any momentum left after coming up short at the goal line, Florida quarterback Kerwin Bell made sure it was put out. Bell his wide receiver Ricky Nattiel on a 96 yard touchdown pass. Florida went on to shut out Georgia, 27-0. 1993: The Timeout Game On a rainy afternoon in Jacksonville, the Gators held on to a 33-26 lead in the 4th quarter over Georgia. A late drive led by Georgia quarterback Eric Zeier, but the Bulldogs in scoring position with just over a minute left to play. Zeier completed a touchdown pass Jerry Jerman with 5 seconds left, appearing to tie the game. However Florida cornerback Anthone Lott had called a timeout, meaning the touchdown did not stand. The following play Lott was called for pass interference, giving Georgia one more chance to tie the game with zero seconds on the clock. Zeier's pass was incomplete and the Gators held on for the victory. 1995: Half a hundred between the Hedges After many years of Georgia victories over the Gators, the tied in this rivalry turned when former Florida quarterback and 1966 Heisman trophy winner, Steve Spurrier took over as head coach of his Alma Mater. It has long been assumed that Steve Spurrier hated Georgia, and felt that Florida should be more than capable of beating them every season. More than once through out his 12 year tenure at Florida did Spurrier take out his hate on the Bulldogs and none may be more evident than the 1995 meeting between the two teams in Athens. Led by quarterback Danny Wuerffel, the Gators rolled over the Bulldogs in Athens, handing them their worst defeat ever at Sanford Stadium, 52-17. 2007: The Gator Stomp Georgia had a lot of held back frustration after losing to the Gators twice in the last 17 meetings. When Georgia runningback Knowshon Moreno dived for a go ahead touchdown early in the first quarter, the entire Georgia bench cleared and ran onto the field in celebration. The unsportsmanlike penalties and plethora of flags on the field were obviously worth motivation value it brought to the Georgia team, as Mark Richt's Bulldogs topped Urban Meyer's Gators, 41-30. 2008: "It's going to be a big deal" Prior to kickoff in the 2008 match up between Georgia and Florida, Urban Meyer made it clear that the controversial field stomp by Georgia the season before did not weigh heavily in Florida's game plan against the Bulldogs. Entering the game both teams were ranked in the top 10, and the match up had national title implications. All the hype leading up to the game quickly died down as Tim Tebow led the Gators to a 49-10 victory over Georgia (UGA's second worst loss in series history). To add insult to injury, Urban Meyer called Florida's last two timeouts with under a minute left just to celebrate victory a little longer. 2012: Battle for the East The 2012 season featured two of the best teams in the SEC as both Florida and Georgia entered the game ranked in the top 10. Will Muschamp's Florida Gators entered the game 7-0 and were favored to beat Georgia. In a sluggish performance by both offenses (there were 9 turnovers between both teams) the deciding play would be a touchdown pass from Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray to Malcom Mitchell. On the ensuing drive, Florida marched the ball downfield quickly. Jeff Driskel hit tight end Jordan Reed on what would have been a first and goal, but when Reed tried to go for the touchdown by leaping over Georgia linebacker Jarvis Jones, but Jones was able to punch the ball out and Georgia recovered at the goal line and hanging on for the 17-9 upset. Quick notes on the 2015 Florida vs Georgia game: Florida enters the game 6-1 and 4-1 in the SEC East. A Florida win against Georgia and Vanderbilt next week would clinch Florida's spot in the SEC Championship Game. Jim McElwain will be the 5th Florida head coach that Mark Richt has faced off against in his tenure at Georgia. This will be the 93rd meeting between both teams.
0 Comments
TUSCALOOSA- It looked like it might have actually happened. It looked like Butch Jones' Tennessee team might actually have come into Tuscaloosa and beaten the mighty Alabama Crimson Tide. It looked like, even with beating Georgia a few weeks ago, Tennessee might have finally earned that big time program win in the house that the Bear built. Even Tennessee's favorite son was in attendance, a guy by the name of Peyton Manning. When Jalen Hurd crossed the goal line after a perfect drive executed and led by Josh Dobbs, under 5 minutes remained, and the Vols held a 14-13 lead on the Tide. But as we all know, 5 minutes is an eternity in College Football and the Crimson Tide took advantage of that fact. With their SEC and National Title hopes on the line, Derrick Henry (who finished with 143 yards and 2 TDs) punched it in the endzone from 14 yards out to give Alabama (7-1, 4-1) a 19-14 lead with 2:24 left in the game. On the ensuing drive, Josh Dobbs fumbled the football right into the hands of A'Shawn Robinson, sealing the victory for Alabama. For Alabama, their title aspirations in the conference and on the national scale are still very much alive. For Tennessee (3-4, 1-3), they find themselves with another loss by less than a touchdown for the 4th time this season. After a tough eight game stretch to begin the season, Alabama will have a bye week before taking on 4th ranked LSU in Tuscaloosa, while Tennessee will face Kentucky (4-3) in Lexington. As everyone knows, the field goal kicker is one of the most important positions on the field. A good kicker could be the difference between a national championship team and a below .500 team. Right now, Jim McElwain has managed to lead Florida to a 6-1 record without one. A few weeks ago, starting kicker Austin Hardin went down with an injury, leaving Florida to turn to walk on back up Jorge Powell. Powell made his first start vs Ole Miss, making two field goals in Florida's 38-10. On Saturday night Powell was injured on a kick return vs LSU. Hardin took over extra point duties in the second half in Baton Rouge, but now the Gators are looking for consistency at the position. This time however, they're turning to the University of Florida student body. On Monday the Florida coaching staff announced they would be holding open tryouts for full time students who can get the ball through the uprights. On Tuesday it was announced nearly 200 students signed up to try out. It's not the first time this unorthodox approach has been taken to finding a player, but it will be interesting to see if the Gators can find a player who can fill an important roll on the team.
Saturday marked one of the biggest weekends in SEC Football. Four top 10 conference teams lined up against each other on Saturday. Two came out victorious. Tenth ranked Alabama topped #9 Texas A&M in College Station, while #6 LSU pulled off the win over #8 Florida. Although the top 10 match ups took the spotlight, there were other storylines at well. Here's quick a recap of Saturday's action:
Memphis 37 #13 Ole Miss 24: Perhaps the biggest surprise on Saturday was Memphis' routing of 13th ranked Ole Miss in the Liberty Bowl. The Rebels defense gave nearly 400 yards through the air and 3 touchdowns, despite taking 14-0 lead early in the 1st quarter. The Tigers rattled off 31 unanswered to earn their first win over a ranked opponent since beating Peyton Manning and the 1996 Tennessee Volunteers. Ole Miss dropped to 5-2, but since it was non conference loss their SEC west hopes are still alive. Vanderbilt 10 South Carolina 19: In their first game under interim head coach Shawn Elliot, the Gamecocks pulled off the win after a week full of distractions leading up to kickoff. It was South Carolina's first conference win of the season. Missouri 6 Georgia 9: We all knew Mizzou had problems getting the ball into the endzone and that the Georgia offense would not be as explosive with out Nick Chubb, but what happened in Athens Saturday night was not pretty. However, the Dawgs got the much needed conference win and still have hopes of winning the east. #8 Florida 28 #6 LSU 35: Fournette did not skip a beat versus Florida's elite defense on Saturday. The Heisman front runner rushed for 180 yards and two touchdowns, but despite being up 28-14 at the half, Florida fought back in the second half to tie the game in the fourth quarter. In typical Les Miles fashion, the deciding score was a fake field goal executed by Trent Domingue that went 16 yards for the touchdown. LSU remains the lone unbeaten team in conference play. #10 Alabama 41 #9 Texas A&M: Credit the Alabama defense with 3 interceptions that went for scores as the Tide rolled over the Aggies in College Station, Texas on Saturday afternoon. Although all of Alabama's passing touchdowns came from Texas A&M's Kyle Allen, Tide running back Derek Henry rushed for a career high 236 yards and two touchdowns. There is no Saturday bigger than this Saturday in the 2015 college football season. Several top 10 teams are featured in matchups against each other here on the eve of the 7th week of the season. For the first time in a long time the SEC will feature 4 teams in the top 10 playing each other: #8 Florida @ #6 LSU and #10 Alabama @ #9 Texas A&M. To the average college football fan, these games of course are the most intriguing, but several other impactful SEC match ups will also take place on Saturday. How will South Carolina fare without Steve Spurrier in their match up with Vanderbilt? Can Missouri knock off Georgia in Athens and or will Georgia keep their East hopes alive with a much needed win over the Tigers? Below are my predictions for Saturday:
Missouri (4-2) @ Georgia (4-2) in Athens: A good match up. Freshman quarterback Drew Lock has been a bright spot on a Missouri offense that has struggled to get in the end zone, but can he get it done in a hostile environment between the hedges? It'll be tough. Mizzou's stout defense will do a good job of containing a Nick Chubb-less Georgia offense, but I like Sony Michelle to pick up the torch and lead a still pretty solid Georgia backfield. I don't expect their to be fireworks however. Georgia 20 Missouri 13. Ole Miss (5-1) @ Memphis (5-0) in Memphis: I think it will be a close one. It's on the road for the Rebels and it's against a very good Memphis Football team. I like this one to be a little high scoring. Both teams can put up points, but I'll take the Rebel Black Bear on the road: Ole Miss 41 Memphis 31 Vanderbilt (2-3) @ South Carolina (2-4) in Columbia: It will be first time in 11 1/2 years that the Old Ball Coach won't be roaming the sidelines for the Gamecocks. The news broke this week that head coach Steve Spurrier was resigning from South Carolina after an 11 year stint in Columbia where the Gamecocks experienced their greatest seasons. However the 2015 campaign has been a disaster, and it was effecting the program and recruiting, prompting one of the winningest coaches in SEC history to leave for the best interests of the team. It's been a week full of distractions for the 2-4 Gamecocks squad and interim head coach Shawn Elliot has to rally his players for a must win game versus equally struggling Vanderbilt. This is one;s for second to last place in the SEC East. I like South Carolina at home...but it'll be ugly. South Carolina 17 Vanderbilt 13 #10 Alabama (5-1) @ #9 Texas A&M (5-0) in College Station: I've looked forward to every meeting between these two programs ever since the Aggies joined the SEC in 2012. With the exception of last season's 59-0 thumping of A&M in Tuscaloosa, these games have been extremely entertaining and expect tomorrow to be no different. It will be interesting to see how Alabama's defense will respond to Kevin Sumlin's high flying offense. It will also be interesting to see how John Chavis' defense stacks up against Alabama's offense. One thing we know about Saban and Kiffin, Alabama can score a lot of points too if they have to. Tomorrow, they'll have to. I'm taking the Tide...in a close one. Alabama 37 Texas A&M 34 #8 Florida (6-0) @ #6 LSU (5-0) in Baton Rouge: Speaking of distractions, Jim McElwain and the undfeated Gators have had plenty this week. On Monday, starting freshman quarterback Will Grier was suspended for a calendar year by the NCAA for taking a banned substance. Two days later, freshman reserve Deondre Porter was indefinitely suspended for a violent assault charge. To make things more difficult, it happened the week Gators will take on the Heisman front-runner, LSU runningback Leonard Fournette. Sophomore quarterback Treon Harris (who started 5 games in 2014, and the season opener this season) will be taking over signal calling duties for Florida. Make no mistake, Grier being out does not dismiss Florida. Harris will bring a difficult element for the LSU defense, and I don't expect Florida offense to much different. The biggest question in this match up will be how will Florida's elite defense (2nd in the SEC in rush defense, holding opponents to just 99 YPG) fare against LSU's Fournette who averages 8.7 yards per carry with a total of 1,022 yards on the ground this season? This is going to be a great match up. I think Florida can slow down the Heisman front runner enough to pull off the upset in Death Valley. Florida 23 LSU 20 |
|