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Georgia Bulldogs and Florida Gators: Two teams, different directions

By Michael Collins

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The Georgia Bulldogs and Florida Gators are two football programs that have gone in very different directions over the past several seasons.

There was a time…and not so very long ago…that it seemed like no matter what Georgia did, it would end up backfiring when they were on the field playing the Florida Gators.

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    • From 1990 to 2010, the Gators had Georgia’s number, only allowing the Dawgs three wins over that span in the annual gathering in Jacksonville known as the Cocktail Party.

    Between Steve Spurrier, Ron Zook (still unbelievable that the Bulldogs lost two games to teams coached by him) and Urban Meyer, the Gators piled up 18 wins and an average of 34 points per game, completely taking over the rivalry for the better part of two decades.

    In many years it wasn’t even close. It seemed as though Spurrier and Meyer actually took some sort of perverse pleasure out of running up scores, particularly when the opponent was Georgia.

    But all that has taken a turn of late. Specifically, since 2011, the same year that Will Muschamp (a former Bulldog) took over as head coach at Florida. Once the grimace in orange took charge of the sidelines in Gainesville, the Bulldogs have been the top dawgs at the Cocktail Party.

    Is it because Muschamp is a bad coach? Well, no, not really. Despite the feelings of the Gator Nation at this time, Muschamp is still a good coach…just maybe not for Florida.

    But Muschamp’s presence on the opposing sideline in Jacksonville may have something to do with change of fortune for the Bulldogs, even if it doesn’t have to do with his coaching ability.

    Quite simply, what is there to fear from Musichamp?…he’s one of us (or was). Regardless of how long ago it was or what his job is right now, it has to be hard for players to think of Muschamp as the enemy and to fear what he has in store for his Alma Mater.

    Once a Dawg…always a Dawg.

    And let’s face it….Spurrier? Meyer? Those guys were inside the heads of the Dawgs. Georgia players and fans seemed to be convinced that it was Florida’s game to lose every year, and that only a stroke of luck or a fluke injury to a key player would swing things in Georgia’s favor.

    Now its as if Mark Richt and the Bulldogs are in the heads of the Gators.

    When…err…I mean if…no, nevermind…WHEN the Bulldogs beat the Gators in this year’s cocktail party, it will be the first time Georgia has had a win streak of longer than three against the Gators since winning six straight from 1978-1983.

    That’s right, the Bulldogs can do something that hasn’t been done since Herschel Walker was rumbling down the sidelines in red and black –

    Force a Florida senior class to go winless against Georgia in the Cocktail Party.

    How sweet it is!

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