Georgia Football: Know the history of WLOCP

Georgia football is taking on Flordia this weekend down in Jacksonville. This game is the most important regular season game for both programs. This rivalry is bitter and filled with hatred; both universities dispute when they first started playing each other.

Georgia claims that they played on October 15th, 1904. While Florida claims they played Georgia for the first time on November 6, 1915. Florida claims that the team Georgia played that faithful day did not represent modern-day Flordia. Furthermore, Florida was not in Gainsville then; it was in Lake City, Florida, under the name Florida Agricultural College. I am no historian, but Dan Magill said that is where Florida was in 1904, and whatever Magill says goes. So this will be the 101st edition of the rivalry.

Georgia leads the series with 55 wins and 44 losses. There have only been two ties in this series. Both school’s longest win streak in the series is at 7. Georgia 7 game winning streak against Florida started in 1941 and ended in 1949. Florida 7 game winning streak against the Dawgs started in 1990 and ended in 1997. Georgia’s most significant margin of victory came in 1942, where the Dawgs won 75-0, and the Gator’s most significant margin of victory came in 1996, where the Gators won 47-7.

There have been a lot of talks recently to move the game out of Jacksonville and move the game to the campuses of both schools. I disagree with this take because you lose something special about this rivalry if it is moved to the campuses. But that is just me, and that can be a different blog this week. The game has been played in Jacksonville since 1933. So, this year’s game marks the 90th anniversary of the game being held in Jacksonville. The game has been played in Macon, Savannah, Tampa, Athens, and Gainesville. Athens has hosted this game four times, while Gainesville has hosted the game three times.

Enough with the history; let’s look at the Gators early. Billy Napier is in his second season as the Head Coach of the Flordia Gators. Many have said this could be his last, but we will see how this season plays out. Florida already has two losses this season. Their first loss came in the first game of the year against Utah. That game will always stay in my mind because they had two players wearing the same number on 4th down, and because of that, Utah got the first down and later scored. I laughed. The second loss came at the hands of Kentucky on the road in Lexington. That is the game where Ray Davis ran all over the Gators and put the Dawgs on upset alert because of that. A week later, the Dawgs demolished the Wildcats.

Florida record might look okay but do not be fooled. This Flordia team is not good. Graham Mertz has played well in two games, but those games were against South Carolina and Vanderbilt. Congrats! Mertz has been up and down this year. The players to watch out for against the Gators are Ricky Pearsall and Trevor Etienne. Florida also has a big man up front, Desmond Watson. Watson is 6’5  and weighs in at 435 LBS. Florida fans think he’s their version of Jordan Davis, but Jordan Davis does not have jelly rolls and can run a 4.78 40-yard dash. So don’t worry about him.

Georgia is a 14.5-point favorite and looks to add to their two-game winning streak against the Gators. The Dawgs have owned this series since Kirby Smart took over at Georgia in 2016. The Dawgs are 5-2 since 2016. Furthermore, Georgia is 8-4 in this series since 2011. The Dawgs were starting to lose control of the rivalry for the last few decades, but since the 2010s, they have owned this series. Hopefully, the trend will continue this Saturday.