With Saturday’s Florida vs. Georgia game coming up, the future of the game’s location is on a lot of people’s minds. One of those is Bulldogs’ head coach Kirby Smart. Earlier this week, Smart once again expressed recruiting concerns over playing the game in Jacksonville.
Along with the Red River Rivalry, which pits Oklahoma against Texas at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, the Florida-Georgia rival in one of the last true natural site games in college football. The stadium is split down the middle, with overhead photos showing half the crowd in Gator-Blue, and half the crowd in Georgia-Red.
The game has been played in Jacksonville since 1933, with the exception of a home-and-home series in 1994 and 1995 when the old Gator Bowl was being retrofitted to accommodate the Jacksonville Jaguars. Both games were won by the Orange and Blue, with Florida’s 52 points in the 1995 matchup setting the record for most points scored by an opponent between the hedges in Athens — a record still stands to this day.
Here is what Smart said in an ESPN article about the site of the annual rivalry game:
“We’re allowed to use tickets, but we can’t host them,” Smart said Monday. “We can’t do anything. So I never understood — I never understand — what would we do with them? We can’t legally see them. We can’t talk to them, we can’t host them. Visit with them.
“We can say, ‘There’s a ticket at the gate. Enjoy the game.’ So that’s really all we can do. We’ll do that. We’ll have some kids go to the game.”
It seems like Smart isn’t satisfied with the SEC’s attempt to keep the game in Jacksonville. Smart used his platform at last summer’s SEC Media Days to express his concerns over the inability of either team to have a traditional recruiting weekend at the neutral site game. While this is an improvement from losing an entire home game, it’s clear that Smart would rather have a full recruiting weekend rather than preserve the history of the Florida-Georgia rivalry.
Gators head coach [autotag]Billy Naper[/autotag] has said that he would like to experience the atmosphere in Jacksonville before giving an opinion. He also acknowledged that each team has advantages and disadvantages associated with the game’s location.
On Monday, Florida and Georgia released a joint statement saying that they will continue to have conversations about what is best for both programs, in terms of the game’s location. Currently, the contract ties the game to Jacksonville through 2023, with an option to extend it through 2025.
This year’s edition of the rivalry will be played on Saturday from TIAA Bank Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m EDT and the game will be broadcast on CBS Sports.
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