Bulldogs at a glance
› Georgia (4-3, 2-3 SEC) vs. No. 14 Florida (5-1, 3-1)› Jacksonville, Fla.› Saturday, 3:30 p.m.› CBS & 102.3 FM
ATHENS, Ga. - Georgia redshirt junior outside linebacker Davin Bellamy first realized the importance of the Georgia-Florida game as a 12-year-old watching on television.
The Bulldogs struck first in the 2007 meeting on a Knowshon Moreno touchdown run, and dozens of Georgia players vaulted off the bench and raced to the end zone to join the starting offense in celebration. Georgia was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct, but the Bulldogs pulled off a 42-30 upset for their one win in six tries against former Florida coach Urban Meyer, who won two national championships with the Gators.
"I loved the confidence that was displayed, and I knew Georgia didn't do that a lot," Bellamy recalled Tuesday. "For them to do it in this game must have meant there had to be some history behind it."
Georgia and Florida will renew that colorful history Saturday when the Bulldogs (4-3, 2-3 SEC) and No. 14 Gators (6-1, 3-1) vie at EverBank Field in Jacksonville. The two programs have met in Jacksonville every year since the inception of the Southeastern Conference in 1933, with the exception of the 1994 and 1995 seasons, when the stadium was being renovated to accommodate the arrival of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars.
Both teams are allowed to wear their home jerseys, having brought back that tradition before the 2014 matchup, and tickets are evenly split each year.
The two schools can't agree on the overall series record, with Georgia's 52-0 win in Macon in 1904 serving as the dispute between Georgia's 50-42-2 series edge according to UGA records and a 49-42-2 advantage according to Florida records. The Gators have won 20 of the 26 meetings since Steve Spurrier arrived as coach in 1990 and went 11-1 in the rivalry, and Saturday will be the first Georgia-Florida game without Spurrier or Mark Richt walking one of the sidelines since 1989.
"It's kind of that border war of who's better between Georgia and Florida," Bulldogs fifth-year senior right tackle Greg Pyke said. "You go into the Jaguars stadium and know it's going to be a cage match. With those guys up front, it's always very chippy, so there are always some penalties out there."
Said senior safety Quincy Mauger: "It's arguably the best rivalry in college football."
Florida coach Jim McElwain tasted success in his first Georgia-Florida game, directing the Gators to a 27-3 win last year. McElwain was asked about this matchup Monday in his news conference and said, "It doesn't matter where you are or where you're from, this is a game you know about."
Richt entered the rivalry in 2001 having coached against Florida as a Florida State offensive assistant, and current Georgia coach Kirby Smart played for the Bulldogs during the late 1990s and was Georgia's running backs coach in 2005. Smart worked with McElwain and with Gators offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier when McElwain (2008-11) and Nussmeier (2012-13) were Alabama's offensive coordinators while Smart oversaw the Crimson Tide defense.
Smart said his familiarity with those two can work both ways.
"They do a great job of motioning, shifting you and trying to confuse you," he said. "We played them last year at Alabama, and when you look at it, they did a lot of the similar things - shifting motion and trying to confuse people with eye candy. I think that's what Nuss and McElwain have always done.
"The biggest difference is they've got a big physical O-line and they've got backs now that are running the ball better."
This game for years was known as the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party," but the two schools a decade ago asked that the moniker be dropped after a couple of alcohol-related deaths occurred in nearby parking garages following the game. There have been shirts printed for this year's matchup titling it the "River City Showdown," but Smart said he will always call it "Georgia-Florida."
"It has many names," Mauger said, "but at the end of the day, it's football."
And an opportunity for Georgia to right a wrong after losing to Vanderbilt its last time out.
"We've prepared every week just like I've seen us prepare in the past, but we fell short," Bellamy said. "This game isn't like a desperate win for us, because we're not a bad team. We're a team that kind of just fell short a couple of times, but we have the talent to compete with anybody.
"This is a game where we can just go out and show what we can do."
Linebackers cleared
Georgia announced before Smart's weekly news conference that sophomore inside linebackers Roquan Smith and Natrez Patrick did not violate any athletic association rules when campus police were called to Patrick's dorm room in McWhorter Hall on Nov. 15, after a residence assistant smelled marijuana. Officers found drug paraphernalia but did not pursue marijuana possession charges, and Bulldogs athletic director Greg McGarity said Monday in a released statement that the two players were tested for drugs and results were negative.
"Since November 2015, I have dedicated myself to moving forward," Patrick said in a statement. "I'm blessed to have done that despite hurdles I've had to clear. This incident was simply another hurdle, and I was confident I would successfully clear it. I'll continue to move forward and I'm anxious to play on Saturday."
Odds and ends
Georgia's game Nov. 5 at Kentucky will be televised by the SEC Network with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff. Sophomore cornerback Deandre Baker (ankle) practiced Monday in a regular jersey. Smart said Monday that former running back Tae Crowder would remain at inside linebacker, where he was moved last week.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.