One of the topics from this week’s SEC media days that is sure to come up in the future is the location of the annual Florida-Georgia game. Georgia head coach Kirby Smart got the ball rolling on Wednesday with his comments against the game being held in Jacksonville, but first-year Florida coach Billy Napier said he’d like to experience the game before handing out any definitive opinions to the media.
Before digging into who said what, it’s important to give a little background on the game itself. For starters, the game has been played in Jacksonville since 1933. Smart is talking about breaking an 89-year tradition that’s only seen two exceptions due to a stadium construction project in the 90s. Despite being physically in Florida, the crowd is usually well split and the event has been designated as the world’s largest outdoor cocktail party.
It’s not the atmosphere or location that Smart takes issue with, though. The problem is that Smart is losing a home game to recruit players every other year. For that matter, so is Florida.
“I’m competing against guys all across the SEC who host kids at their biggest game,” Smart said on the SEC Network. “When Auburn plays Alabama, guess where the recruits are. They’re at Auburn. When LSU and Alabama play, guess where the biggest recruits want to go. It’s an opportunity for us to bring these kids who fly in from all over the country. What game do they want to see? They’d like to see Georgia play Florida but they can’t do that.”
Smart’s point is valid, but is it enough to change a tradition that’s nearing nine decades of practice? As Napier put it, that decision is above their paygrade, but if the two sides held the same public opinion on the matter it could get the ball rolling in a year or so.
There’s no doubt that Napier will need to prepare an answer for the follow-up that inevitably comes during his second SEC media days appearance.
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