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Georgia Bulldogs: The Season Comes Down to Florida Game

By John Buhler

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The Georgia Bulldogs will take on their arch nemesis in the Florida Gators this Saturday down in Jacksonville. Dawg Nation, it is officially hate week.

For the Georgia Bulldogs, there is not a more emotional game on the slate than the annual affair down in Jacksonville. The Georgia-Florida rivalry is one of the few remaining games that both team agree on being played on a neutral site.

Hostility and pure animosity runs deep in this rivalry. Neither party can agree on the series record and both schools have no interest in visiting their opponent’s campus. It’s officially hate week and the SEC East is more on the line than ever.

Florida is 6-1 (4-1) this season under new HC Jim McElwain. The defense looks like one of the best units in college football, but the offense took a major blow when the NCAA suspended starting QB Will Grier for testing positive for PEDs. Even after a 35-28 road loss in Baton Rouge to inter-divisional rival LSU, the Gators are still very much alive in the College Football Playoff landscape.

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Georgia enters Week 9 at 5-2 (3-2) with a sliver of hope to capture the SEC East crown and play for a conference championship in Atlanta. An upset over Florida would give the Georgia Bulldogs full control of the SEC East. Should UGA beat Florida, Kentucky, and Auburn, the Dawgs will win the East at a 6-2 mark in conference play.

A win for Florida and they clinch the SEC East Title and will play in Atlanta for the first time since 2009. Every other team in the East will have three conference losses and Florida would hold the tiebreaker over everyone. After UGA, the Gators only have lowly South Carolina and Vanderbilt on their SEC slate.

This is a must-win game for both teams. The Georgia Bulldogs need to win out in SEC play to make it to Atlanta. A shocking upset of the winner of the SEC West would give UGA a New Year’s Six Bowl bid they probably don’t deserve, but we’ll take it.

Florida won’t want to relinquish SEC East control to their biggest conference rival. It would have to feel empty in Gainesville to go 10-2 (6-2) and not play in the SEC Championship. Dawg Nation knows what that feels like from the 2014 Florida Gators.

What I’ve learned over the years from this historic and hate-filled rivalry for both schools is that record, national perception, and favorites/underdogs do not matter in the slightest in this game. Florida has certainly had the edge in this annual contest for most of my lifetime, but the Gators are on their fourth head coach since the Head Ball Coach Steve Spurrier threw his visor into the mess associated with the Washington Professional Football Team.

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2002’s loss in Jacksonville was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect season for the Dawgs. Though UGA won the SEC that year, had the Georgia Bulldogs not lost the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, Dawg Nation could have had a national title to claim. UGA wrecked UF’s 2012 season with a near goal line strip as time expired. Georgia played for the SEC Championship that year, but Florida’s one regular season loss kept them out of the national title picture.

Last year, Florida had no business winning that football game, but they did. This year it’s inverted, as UGA should enter Georgia-Florida as an underdog. If history has told us anything, let’s throw out any preconceived notions about either team and enjoy in theory the SEC East Championship Game. It’s hate week. Forever, Go Dawgs!

Next: Georgia Bulldogs: Did Dawgs Benefit From Bye

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