GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Florida-Georgia rivalry has been one of streaks for the past decade. The Gators won three in a row from 2008-10, Georgia won three in a row from 2011-13, Florida won three in a row from 2014-16, and now the Bulldogs have won three consecutive in the series.
Florida's latest loss, a 24-17 defeat last Saturday in Jacksonville, renewed questions about the disparity between the No. 6-ranked Bulldogs and No. 10-ranked Gators. Florida was sixth, Georgia eighth heading into last weekend's game.
"Seven points,'' was Florida coach
Dan Mullen's terse response after the game to a question posed about the gap between the programs. "We're seven points behind Georgia."
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The framework for the debate was established in 2017 when the Gators, in their final game under former head coach
Jim McElwain, lost 42-7 to a Georgia team that would eventually play for the national championship. The game was over less than 10 minutes off the clock as the Bulldogs dominated a downtrodden UF program headed toward a 4-7 season.
Mullen was hired a few weeks later, and with Georgia flying high under
Kirby Smart, then in his second season, the Bulldogs signed the nation's No. 1 recruiting class in 2018, a haul some analysts ranked as arguably the best signing class in history.
Fast forward 11 months, and at the end of the 2018 season, a resurgent Florida program finished tied with Georgia for seventh in the final AP Top 25 poll. On the way to that conclusion, Georgia beat the Gators again in a much closer game than the 36-17 score indicated. Florida led 14-13 in the second half until turnovers and miscues did the Gators in.
Amidst that backdrop, the Gators had a great opportunity to silence the doubters five days ago but failed where it counts the most -- on the field. Florida played from behind the entire game. Still, the never-say-die Gators mounted a rally and if they had been able to stop Georgia from converting a third-and-7 with more than two minutes to go, perhaps the conversation would be different. Of course, "what-if" scenarios are best on sports-talk radio and mean nothing in the standings.
The Bulldogs can boast. They earned that right. They have an opportunity to do something next season they haven't done in nearly 40 years – beat the Gators four consecutive times. The last time they did that was a six-game streak from 1978-83.
Having said all that, this is clearly a Florida program that has closed the gap on Georgia under Mullen, who is 17-5 entering Saturday's home game against Vanderbilt.
Posed with a similar question on Monday about the perceived gap in talent, one that many observers consider has been reduced primarily because of Mullen's coaching ability, he didn't exactly buy that theory.
"I mean, to me, it's determined on the field and that's what it is and you can look, 'oh, we have some pretty talented players, they have some pretty talented players,' " Mullen said. "There's positions they have more talent than we do and there's positions we have more talent than they do. It's just our job to highlight our strengths and try to defend against our weaknesses as best as possible. That's always kind of the matchup."
Mullen is your typical college football coach, an ultra-competitive, alpha male personality who isn't going to give an inch and play into whatever the perceived perception is outside Florida's football offices. Nothing wrong with that. Gators fans should want nothing less from their head coach.
Unlike two years ago, if the Gators and Bulldogs met again this Saturday, it would not be a surprise to see the Gators play much better and beat Georgia. They were not at their best last week and it showed. That's not to take anything away from a Georgia team that deserved to win and has some clear advantages, most notably on the offensive line. Quarterback
Jake Fromm made all the throws and the Bulldogs controlled the pace.
In the aftermath, Mullen did what he had to do. He spoke about what the Gators have left to play for, which despite the disappointing defeat, remains significant in his ultimate mission to restore the Florida program as a national title contender.
The Gators still have an outside shot at winning the SEC East – Georgia would have to lose two of its three remaining conference games and UF would have to beat Vanderbilt on Saturday and win at Missouri next week. In addition, if the Gators respond the way they did in their final four games last season, they can reach 11 wins for only the eighth time in the program's history.
Not only would that be a meaningful milestone, it would be a one-win improvement over Mullen's surprising first season and another clear sign the Gators are headed in the right direction.
The first step is bouncing back with a victory over the Commodores on Saturday.Â
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CHARTING THE GATORS
A look at the 11-win seasons in the history of the UF football program, a feat the Gators can accomplish for the first time in seven years if they can close the season with four consecutive wins the way they did in 2018:
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| SEASON |
W-L |
COACH |
NOTABLE |
| 2012 |
11-2 |
Will Muschamp |
Highlight of Muschamp's four-year run leading Gators |
| 2009 |
13-1 |
Urban Meyer |
Finished 12-0 in regular season but lost SEC title to Bama |
| 2008 |
13-1 |
Urban Meyer |
Rebounded from midseason loss to win third national title |
| 2006 |
13-1 |
Urban Meyer |
Won program's 2nd national title in Meyer's 2nd season |
| 1996 |
12-1 |
Steve Spurrier |
Rout of FSU in Sugar Bowl delivers UF's first national title |
| 1995 |
12-1 |
Steve Spurrier |
Perfect regular season spoiled by loss to Nebraska for title |
| 1993 |
11-2 |
Steve Spurrier |
Beat West Virginia in Sugar Bowl for first 11-win season |
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NEWS, NOTES, NUGGETS
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Freshman OL
Ethan White, whose only two appearances came in the wins over UT Martin and Towson, will move into the rotation following the departure of
Christopher Bleich, who entered the transfer portal this week after starting eight of nine games. Bleich had recently lost ground in competition with fellow redshirt freshman
Richard Gouraige. Mullen said Wednesday that family issues at home in Pennsylvania factored into Bleich's unexpected departure.
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Florida leads the all-time series against Vanderbilt 40-10-2 and has won five in a row. The Gators are 21-2-1 all-time against the Commodores at Florida Field, losing only in 1945 and 2013.
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Florida is 4-0 at home this season as it attempts to finish with a perfect home record for the first time since 2016 (5-0).
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Coming off an eight-catch, 91-yard performance against Georgia, senior WR
Freddie Swain now has 13 career touchdown catches and needs 91 yards to reach 1,000 for his career.
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The Gators will be without injured LB
Jeremiah Moon (foot) against Vanderbilt and LB/S
Amari Burney (undisclosed) is listed as doubtful.
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Commodores senior RB Ke'Shawn Vaughn, who started his career at Illinois, ranks 12th among active NCAA backs with 3,058 career rushing yards. Vaughn has eight career 100-yard rushing games since transferring to Vanderbilt after the 2016 season.
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Vanderbilt QB Riley Neal, a graduate transfer who started 34 games for Ball State from 2015-18, has thrown for 1,293 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions.
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Gators sophomore K
Evan McPherson has made 82 consecutive PATs, trailing only
Bart Edmiston (114) and
Matt Leach (104) in school history.
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Florida did not record a sack in the loss to Georgia, which was also the case in the loss at LSU. The Gators lead the SEC with 29 total sacks. Meanwhile, UF's defense allowed Georgia to convert 12 of 18 times on third down, which dropped the Gators to 71st national in third-down defense. Opponents have converted 49 of 124 attempts (39.5 percent).
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The Commodores ranked last in the SEC in total offense (317.1 yards per game) and total defense (453.9 ypg), a combination that has resulted in six losses by an average of 22.7 points.
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