If the Florida Gators are going to get the best of the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon, all three of these things need to happen. One, the Florida defense needs to play outstanding throughout. It has at times, so that is totally plausible. Two, Georgia's offense must short-circuit after spotting Florida a big lead in the first half. That could happen yet again, but Georgia usually finds a way to win.
As for the third component in the equation, it really needs to be the year of the interim. While Mark Carney did phenomenal things to have the interim tag removed on him at Kent State, as well as the UCLA Bruins and Virginia Tech Hokies showing signs of life under interims Tim Skipper and Philip Montgomery respectively, Billy Gonzales might not be ready for what is about to happen in Duval...
This is not to say that Gonzales will not have his guys playing hard, but Georgia is on a mission, Dawg. At 6-1 on the year and 4-1 in SEC play, Georgia has another College Football Playoff to be a part of. As long as the Dawgs do not drop two of their final five games, they will be in the mix to play for a national championship. Keep in mind how important this game is for quarterback Gunner Stockton...
Georgia is not a perfect team, but Florida is far from being a good team. That will matter on Saturday.
The year of the interim is not a transferrable property for Florida here
Yes, Florida and Georgia are coming off byes. While anything and everything can happen in the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, there is a reason why ESPN's matchup predictor favors Georgia so much in this one. We are looking at Georgia projected to win this one 79.2 percent of the time, when compared to Florida's 20.8 mark. Furthermore, the point spread tells us everything here.
The current line from ESPN Bet has Georgia favored by 7.5 points in this neutral-site affair. The SP+ projection has the Dawgs expected to win by 10.2. The FPI projection has Georgia beating Florida by 9.3 Clearly, there is some money going on Florida on the side of it being the so-called year of the interim. Yes, Florida did beat Texas, but that game was in The Swamp, and have you seen Texas play?
Overall, it is hard to see Georgia falling victim in this potential trap game down in Jacksonville. Georgia's biggest trap game of the season is actually next week in Starkville against the other SEC Bulldogs... Regardless, Florida pulled the plug on Napier after a win two weeks ago to avoid him suffering another embarrassment at the hands of Georgia in Jacksonville. It will be more of the same.
Florida might think it has a better shot against the Dawgs on Saturday, but this Georgia team is rolling.