It’s one of the most colorful rivalries in Southeastern Conference football and all of college football, for that matter.
Yet it rarely delivers photo finishes.
Nine of the last 10 games between Georgia and Florida have been decided by at least two touchdowns, with Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs doing the chomping the past three seasons by scores of 34-7, 42-20 and 43-20. Georgia is a 16.5-point favorite to win Saturday afternoon (3:30 on ABC) in Jacksonville, which is why Gators freshman quarterback DJ Lagway is likely the biggest key in determining whether the latest showdown in this border rivalry can be a rare close call.
“He has tremendous size, speed, athleticism and confidence,” Smart said. “We recruited DJ when he was coming out. He’s a great kid with a great family, and he’s just uber talented when you look at the arm strength he has. A quarterback gets better through experience and playing time, and he’s played a lot of football.
“He played a lot in high school and has made a lot of throws at a really high level, and to be able to come into the SEC and be able to play like he has as a true freshman is just rare, because the step up is just so high.”
Lagway, a 6-foot-3, 239-pounder from Willis, Texas, was the top-rated quarterback in the 2024 signing class and began this season as the backup to Graham Mertz. That abruptly changed during the third quarter of Florida’s 23-17 overtime loss at Tennessee on Oct. 12, when Mertz was lost for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Mertz also missed Florida’s second game this season due to a concussion, which has resulted in Lagway getting starts against Samford in early September and Kentucky on Oct. 19. The Gators have scored a combined 93 points in those two victories, with Lagway racking up a whopping eight completions of 40 yards or longer.
“What’s unique about DJ is just his accuracy with the deep ball,” Florida coach Billy Napier said. “That’s what jumps out to me. When he throws it in the deep part of the field, whether that’s down the middle of the field or on the outside third, he has shown an accuracy, and it’s really just a unique talent that he has.
“He’s going through progressions much like all of our quarterbacks do, but when he does pull the trigger, he’s able to throw a strike.”
In the 45-7 shellacking of Samford, Lagway had completions of 85 yards to Eugene Wilson III, 77 yards to Elijhah Badger and 44 yards to Chimere Dike. In the 48-20 rout of Kentucky, when Florida started true freshmen at quarterback and at running back (Jadan Baugh) for the first time in program history, Lagway had throws of 58 yards to Badger, 44 to Dike and 40 to Wilson.
Obviously the competition for Lagway will stiffen significantly later this week, but he did have the clutch 27-yard completion to Dike that sent the game at Tennessee into overtime.
“He throws a really good deep ball, and it’s one of the things that makes him different,” Smart said. “He’s got unbelievable arm talent. He can throw the ball the length of the field.”
Said Napier: “It’s definitely a strength of his, and we’re obviously going to build off of that, because creating a bunch of explosive plays is a big part of winning.”
Beck back home
Georgia fifth-year senior Carson Beck is likely playing in his Jacksonville hometown for the final time as a college quarterback.
Beck’s 284.7 passing yards per game is slightly ahead of last season’s 281.5-yard clip, but his efficiency rating of 146.4 is noticeably off last year’s 167.9 rating. The 6-4, 220-pounder has thrown eight interceptions in seven games after throwing six all of last season.
“I don’t think there is anything wrong with him,” Smart said. “He hasn’t played perfect, but nobody does. I’m very comfortable with where Carson is in terms of his leadership, his practice habits and the things we are asking of him to do. I think he’s doing a good job with those.”
Senior sweep?
Bulldogs seniors have a career mark of 48-3, with the only losses coming to Alabama in 2021, 2023 and last month.
Should Georgia win Saturday, this class would be the first to go 4-0 against Florida since the Bulldogs seniors of 1983.
“I think that has no bearing on Saturday,” Smart said. “Each season is independent of the previous one, and we don’t get caught up in things like that. We’re trying to earn it each day.”
Bulldogs bites
Georgia holds a 56-44-2 series advantage, according to school records, and has defeated the Gators three straight times by more than 21 points for the first time ever. … Smart said he is “hopeful” of having right guard Tate Ratledge back this week. The fifth-year senior from Darlington School in Rome has been out since undergoing TightRope surgery on his left ankle Sept. 16. … Smart on his advice this week for junior running back Trevor Etienne, who spent his first two seasons at Florida: “Focus on the task. You don’t want to get caught up in emotions and be emotional, because that doesn’t help any. Dom (Lovett) has gone through this with Missouri a couple of times, and that’s part of college football now.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.