WATCH: UGA Football Fans Light up Jacksonville vs. the Gators
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JACKSONVILLE - Kirby Smart and UGA Football made the annual trip to Jacksonville to take on Kirby’s Bulldogs travel to Jacksonville and UGA fans lit up the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.
This Saturday’s game with the Gators returns to Jacksonville where it has been played annually since 1933 except for two years in the mid 1990s when the Gator Bowl was being renovated for the NFL’s newest franchise, the Jacksonville Jaguars
In 1994 and 1995, the game moved on campus with Florida dominating the series that decade. The 2025 game will be in Jacksonville, but the sites for the 2026-27 Georgia-Florida games have yet to be announced due to EverBank renovations again.
Overall, Georgia leads the series 56-44-2 including 49-41-1 in Jacksonville. The teams first met in 1904 in Macon, a 52-0 Bulldog victory Lately, it’s the Bulldogs with the upperhand as they have won three straight and are 6-2 against UF under Kirby Smart. After UF’s win over Georgia in ‘20, the Bulldogs compiled a 42-game regular season winning streak that ended this year at #4 UA.
Georgia Versus Florida Since 2016
2016 #14 Florida d. Georgia 24-10
2017 #3 Georgia d. Florida 42-7
2018 #7 Georgia d. #9 Florida 36-17
2019 #8 Georgia d. #6 Florida 24-17
2020 #8 Florida d. #5 Georgia 44-28
2021 #1 Georgia d. Florida 34-7
2022 #1 Georgia d. Florida 42-20
2023 #1 Georgia d. Florida 43-20
2024 #2 Georgia will be the home team
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Georgia-Florida Hall of Fame
Since 1996, the Friday before the annual game features the induction of a pair of Bulldogs and Gators in the Georgia-Florida Hall of Fame, which was created by the City of Jacksonville Office of Sports and Entertainment. This year’s inductees will be Mike Fisher (DB) and Bill Goldberg (DT) from UGA alongside Mike Peterson (LB) and Fred Weary (DB) from UF.
Aiming To Be Elite Against One Tough Slate
The Bulldogs opened the 2024 season ranked No. 1 in the AP and US LBM Coaches poll for the third time in school history (2008, 2023). Georgia dropped to No. 2 in the AP poll after its 13-12 road win over Kentucky on Sept. 14 and remained there for another week before falling to No. 4 Alabama on Sept 28. Georgia checked in at No. 5 in the AP poll for the next three weeks until climbing to No. 2 on Oct. 21 after its road win over top-ranked Texas. Georgia was No. 1 in the US LBM Coaches poll until its first loss when it dropped to No. 5 and then moved up a spot to No. 4 for a couple of weeks before going up to No. 2. Currently, the Bulldogs are at No. 2 in both polls for the second straight week. The Bulldogs have the longest active streak of being ranked in the AP top 10 (59 straight polls).
Georgia & Florida Return Fresher After Bye Week
Second-ranked Georgia (6-1, 4-1 SEC) and Florida (4-3, 2-2 SEC) enjoyed an open date in their schedule after posting wins. On Oct. 19, the Bulldogs knocked off top-ranked Texas 30-15 in front of a record crowd of 105,215 in Austin while the Gators posted a 48-20 home win over Kentucky. Georgia entered the Texas game with 11 sacks on the season and tallied seven against the Longhorns plus had three fumble recoveries to give them five on the year. UF didn’t have leading rusher Montrell Johnson Jr., against UK due to injury and instead got 106 yards and 5 TDs from freshman Jadan Baugh while freshman QB DJ Lagway was 7-for-14 for 259 yards plus had 46 rushing yards.
2023 Georgia-Florida Flashback
Georgia made history last year in Jacksonville as it marked the first time in the series that the Bulldogs had registered three straight wins over the Gators by at least 20 points (34-7 in 2021; 42-20 in 2022; 43-20 in 2023). The top-ranked Bulldogs trailed 7-0 early in the first quarter and then rattled off 36 unanswered points. Georgia finished with 486 yards of total offense on 66 plays in the victory.
Quarterback Carson Beck, a Jacksonville native, finished 19-for-28, for 315 yards, 2 TDs in his first start in the series. The Bulldogs tallied 171 rushing yards on 38 carries.
A key play in the first half came with Georgia leading 10-7 when the Gators went for a 4th-and-1 in their own territory. On a direct snap to running back Trevor Etienne, linebacker Smael Mondon, Jr., stopped him for a loss. Georgia took over at it the UF31 and eventually scored to build a 17-7 edge.
Georgia’s special teams picked up a safety (on a blocked punt by Joenel Aguero) to cap a run of 26 unanswered points in the first half. After UF’s opening TD drive, the Gators final five possessions of the first half resulted in 42 yards on 23 plays with no points. The Bulldogs collected four sacks in the first half and finished with a season-high five after coming in with only 12 for the year. UF’s lone TD in the second half came in the 4th quarter after trailing 36-7. It covered 75 yards on six plays.