The events of last year's Florida-Georgia week led to the hiring of Dan Mullen the day after the 2017 season came to an end. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
Florida-Georgia Returns to National Spotlight
Monday, October 22, 2018 | Football, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Tuesday will make it one year to the day Jim McElwain, his team on a two-game losing streak, stood at a podium on the press box level of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and during his regular start-of-the-week news conference made a veiled reference to having received death threats. In doing so, McElwain altered the future of Florida football.
In the short and long term.
Five nights later, on the eve of facing third-ranked and rival Georgia, McElwain spoke to his team and addressed the rumors swirling in Jacksonville and beyond about his tenuous job situation. The UF players picked up on his angst.
"It was pretty weird knowing that Coach Mac was going to get fired after that game," fourth-year junior linebacker Rayshad Jackson said. "His whole mindset, his whole demeanor was different."
Added senior wide receiver Josh Hammond: "As a kid, 19, 20, 21 years old, just seeing that stuff on Twitter about your coach being fired is a little awkward. It kind of just throws your mind a little bit. It kind of gets guys unfocused on what we have to get accomplished. I think it was [tough] for us mentally, just kind of taking our focus off of the game because we were all worried about, 'Is he going to get fired? Is he not?' Things were kind of weird from that point forward."
Not for long.
Things became very clear-cut in a matter of hours when the Bulldogs scored three touchdowns in the game's first seven-plus minutes and went on to a 42-7 victory that marked the most lopsided UGA win since 1982. That was Saturday. McElwain and the UAA reached a separation agreement Sunday, and then-defensive coordinator Randy Shannon was installed as interim head coach.
The Gators lost three of their final four games, finished 4-7 (for just the second losing record since 1980), and on Nov. 26, the day after a season-ending home loss to Florida State, Dan Mullen, by way of Mississippi State was announced as the next UF coach.
Feleipe Franks and the Gators have come a long way from a season ago at this time. (Photo: Jay Metz/UAA Communications)
Now, here we are, back for another Florida-Georgia week and, goodness, how things have changed in the orange-and-blue universe from a year ago, as the ninth-ranked Gators (6-1, 4-1), winners of five straight, and seventh-ranked Bulldogs (6-1, 4-1) high-ball toward Saturday's annual rivalry clash at TIAA Bank Field with huge Southeastern Conference (if not national) implications in the balance. It'll mark just the sixth time both teams will meet while ranked in the Associated Press Top 10 — and the first time since 2008 — which proved enough of a hook to get both "ESPN College GameDay" and "SEC Nation" to the same venue for the first time. It's also the CBS national SEC game off the week.
"It's going to be pretty special," Mullen said.
This won't be Mullen's first UF-UGA experience, of course. He was involved in four of them — and won three — during his stint as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Urban Meyer (2005-2008). The bus ride over the Hart Bridge, the pageantry on the river, the 50-50 split inside the stadium will not be new for him (unlike for some of his players), but it will be his first go-round as a head coach.
And only first place in the SEC East will be on the line, with Kentucky very much in the picture.
"When you win games, the next one becomes bigger," Mullen said. "More important to me is where you are at the end of the season."
This one will go a long way toward determining where both teams are come late November. Or, more specifically, early December when the SEC stages its title game in Atlanta.
Barely two weeks ago, it would have been difficult to fathom this game morphing into such a high-stakes affair. Georgia, the reigning national runner-up, was steamrolling everyone on the way to the No. 2 ranking, including a 41-17 road rout of South Carolina, while Florida was trying to crawl back from an early season home loss to Kentucky and had a narrow 13-6 escape act at Mississippi State as its best win.
But then the Gators beat undefeated LSU, which turned around and pummeled the Bulldogs 36-16 a week later.
So, what to make of this week's matchup?
"We have guys that love to go out there and play ball and love to play in dog fights," said quarterback Feleipe Franks, choosing an appropriate a metaphor for the occasion. "That's the funnest part about playing football — to play in big games like this. We have to go out there and make the most of the opportunity."
For the Bulldogs, last year's blowout win helped fuel their run to the SEC Championship Game, where Georgia avenged its only loss of the season by defeating Auburn, 28-7, just three weeks after being trashed 40-17 on the road by the Tigers. UGA, of course, made the four-team College Football Playoff and lost in the national championship game to Alabama in overtime.
That Georgia team said goodbye to some very good players, but returned a bunch as well, and through six weeks looked as powerful as any team in the country outside of Tuscaloosa, Ala. That's what made the Bulldogs' lopsided loss in Baton Rouge so eye-opening.
That same day, a week removed from beating LSU 27-19 at home, the Gators rallied from 18 down at Vanderbilt for a 37-27 win. Both teams had byes last week, while Kentucky held serve at home against Vandy, thus throwing the SEC East into a three-way tie.
Jake Fromm only completed four of seven passes for 101 yards in UGA's rout of UF last season. The Bulldogs didn't need him to do any more, as they rushed for 303 yards and four touchdowns.
Even after managing their fewest points in the previous 26 games, the Bulldogs will come in ranked second in the SEC in scoring (39.0 points per game), along with an offense that averages 461.9 yards, which rates fifth in the league. The trigger man is sophomore Jake Fromm (67 percent, 1,409 yards, 13 TDs, 4 INTs), but don't be surprised if Coach Kirby Smart and his staff used the off week to create a bigger role for duel-threat freshman Justin Fields (72 percent, 200 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, plus 136 rushing yards, 3 TDs), who was the overall No. 1-ranked prep prospect in the nation last year.
Tailback Elijah Holyfield (488 yards, 4 TDs) is 10th in the SEC in rushing and averages better than seven yards per carry. He'll take turns with D'Andre Swift (362 yards, 4 TDs) for a ground attack that, at 226.3 yards a game, rates third in the league and 22nd in the country, but managed just 113 in the loss at LSU after falling behind 16-0 at halftime.
"From what I've seen they're very physical," Jackson said of the UGA backs. "They like to get to the outside all the time. Swift, he likes shaky stuff. Holyfield, he likes to truck people. Our game plan, our emphasis this whole week, is be physical, run to the ball, all 11 guys get to the ball."
On defense, Georgia's 310.6 yards yielded per game is fourth in the league and 17th nationally, but LSU trampled the Dogs for 275 yards on the ground. UGA's run defense sits eighth (136.3 yards per) in the conference, while its pass defense is third (174.3 per game).
The Florida offensive line, as well as the quarterback, made some strides the last two weeks. The Gators rushed for 215 yards against LSU and 285 at Vanderbilt and allowed just two combined sacks of Franks. UF is now sixth in the league in total offense (408.3 yards per), including seventh in rushing (197.3) and ninth in passing (211.0).
A statistic Florida was managing better than any team in the SEC (and among the best in the country) was turnovers, but three giveaways at Vanderbilt helped dig that 18-point hole and surely made ball-security a point of emphasis during their workouts last week.
UF's players and coaches had the weekend off, a respite some no doubt used to go home and see family and others used for old-fashion rest and relaxation.
"We'll see if that works out," Mullen said. "Every year, you get asked the question: 'Does the bye help or not help?' I'll tell you on Saturday [night] about 7:15."
Whatever the post-game fallout, it'll be a far cry from a year ago.
