College Football Game of the Week: No. 1 Georgia vs. Florida

The rivalry, previously known as the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, between Georgia and Florida will have its 101st installment of the matchup.

The matchup takes place yearly at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

It is about as even of a playing field geographically-wise as possible. Gainesville is a little over an hour away from Jacksonville, while Georgia travels a bit further with a 5-hour trip to the city.

However, that doesn’t stop the even split of fans, half the stadium in red and the other in Florida’s royal blue and orange.

Despite Georgia being ranked and Florida unranked, this match will be close, like usual.

Georgia is still without star tight end Brock Bowers and could be without tackle Amarius Mims, as well.

Florida, on the other hand, will get starting center Kingsley Eguakun back after missing five of Florida’s seven matchups.

Carson Beck is still looking for his breakout performance. The junior quarterback is averaging 307 yards per game but hasn’t been up to the Georgia standard.

In his first year as a starter, Beck has thrown only 12 touchdown passes in seven games. Despite this, the Bulldogs are still undefeated and remain at the top of the college football rankings.

Florida has flown under the radar since their opening week loss to Utah. The Gators are sneakily 5-2 and 3-1 in the conference. A win against Georgia suddenly puts them at the top of the SEC West standings.

In fact, for a team that hasn’t lost in nearly three years, Georgia could be considered underrated, as well, up to this point in the season.

For Florida to pull off the upset, the Gators are going to have to continue to do what they’ve done to get them to 5-2. Quarterback Graham Mertz has only turned the ball over twice this season.

Mertz, a transfer from Wisconsin, is completing over 75 percent of his passes for 1,897 yards.

Florida’s big-time running back duo will look to wear the Georgia defense down. Montrell Johnson Jr. and Trevor Etienne both have rushed for over 400 yards, and each has at least three rushing touchdowns.

The defense of Georgia, featuring Smael Mondon Jr., the leading tackler, and Tykee Smith, four interceptions on the season, will look to slow down the offense of Florida while Beck and company look to get things going on the offensive side of the ball.

The game should be very close and very chippy. Neither team likes the other. In rivalries like this one, don’t look at the rankings, it’s going to be much closer. Florida is very underrated and Georgia is not the same team as either team from the past two seasons.

Andrew Deal is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email asd5765@psu.edu