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Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in The Florida Times-Union and has been republished in full below.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — This will be a Georgia-Florida week unlike anything since the series moved to Jacksonville on a permanent basis in 1933.
In fact, it’s inaccurate to call it a “week.”
With the exception of the city marina opening about seven dozen or so slips to boaters, the COVID-19 pandemic means there will be no activities on the periphery of the 98th meeting between the two SEC rivals (the Bulldogs hold a 52-43-2 edge) and the 88th in Jacksonville.
No RV City.
No Bold City Bash.
No Georgia-Florida Hall of Fame luncheon (indeed, the two schools have put off adding anyone to the game’s Hall of Fame this year).
And most distressing to those who have grown to love the week of pageantry and partying to excess, no tailgating — at least in the lots of TIAA Bank Field.
It’s all about the football game, and very little else. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing as once again, the SEC East title will hang in the balance when the fifth-ranked Bulldogs (4-1) take on the eighth-ranked Gators (3-1) at 3:30 p.m., with the game televised on CBS.
Georgia has won the last three meetings, all under coach Kirby Smart. It also will be the third year in a row in which both teams were ranked among the top-10 at game time.
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The maximum number of fans allowed at TIAA Bank Field on Saturday will be 25 percent of stadium capacity, or 17,962. Georgia get 8,962 tickets, Florida received 8,700 (the designated home team usually gets about 200-to-300 more) and season ticket-holders and top-end boosters will get first dibs.
Since TIAA Bank Field was renovated in 1995 for the Jaguars’ first season, the Georgia-Florida game has packed in 80,000 or more fans each time. If all available seats are filled on Saturday, it will be the lowest attendance since an estimated 17,000 fans watched the Dawgs win 19-6 in 1938.
Both teams bounced back from their only losses of the season so far on Saturday, Georgia winning 14-3 at Kentucky and Florida trouncing Missouri 41-17 at home.
Georgia’s victory wasn’t pretty by any definition — except for a defense that limited Bartram Trail graduate Joey Gatewood to 91 yards passing and sacked him four times. Quarterback continues to be an issue for the Dawgs as Stetson Bennett completed only 9 of 13 passes for 131 yards, and was intercepted twice.
UGA relied on a punishing running attack as Zamir White gained 136 yards and scored on a 22-yard run in the third quarter.
Smart said after the game that he was sticking with Bennett against the Gators.
“[Kentucky] did a great job (of shortening the game),” Smart said of the Wildcats 10-minute edge in time of possession. “They know that they were probably overmatched, and they shrunk the game. They ran the quarterback and they didn’t take many chances, but they stayed on schedule. We ran the ball against a really good, physical defense. It’s hard to make yourself throw when you’re running successfully.”
After the team returned home, safety Richard LeCounte safety was involved in what the school called a “motor-vehicle” accident and hospitalized. He will miss the game.
NEXT: Gators Breakdown