The week every college football fan has waited for has finally arrived.
The UF-Georgia matchup always brings a little sizzle down south, but this season's matchup comes with something a little extra. Both teams are in the top 10, and with Texas beating up on the Big 12 and with Penn State coasting through its schedule like Ohio State has for each of the previous two seasons-there isn't going to be a two-loss team playing in the national championship this year.
That fact alone makes this possibly a bigger game than if both teams came in undefeated. You can recover from one loss to a top opponent, but you can't lose again if you're Georgia and the nation already witnessed Alabama beat you down like you stole something. And you definitely can't afford to slip up if you're UF and fumbled away a potential 7-0 start against Mississippi at home.
Oh, and what's that you say? The Bulldogs stormed the field after scoring their first touchdown of the game?
I must have forgotten amid the stream of "no comments" we received after the Gators crushed Kentucky (and that's not even a strong enough word) on Saturday afternoon.
There I go actually talking about the ramifications of the game rather than what will fuel the game: The dislike the two squads have for each other.
That moment is what makes rivalries so fun. The smirk on Mark Richt's face as his players showed up the Gators last year was priceless - you can count me as one person who doesn't think Richt was surprised at how his players chose to celebrate their first score. It was the greatest "oh, no, they didn't" moment I've seen since Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson thought it wasn't a bad idea to fight out-of-shape drunk guys in the stands.
But with all the hoopla surrounding this game, what's getting lost in the shuffle is we're getting a chance to see some of the best talent college football has to offer on the same field.
Three of the top five or six players in the nation are key elements in this game: Tim Tebow, Percy Harvin and Knowshon Moreno.
Matthew Stafford hasn't been as good as many people thought he would be this season, but he has the talent to be a first-round pick in the NFL Draft.
Jeff Demps may be the most surprising player of this college football season and is the fastest person I've ever seen.
Georgia's A.J. Green, another standout freshman like Demps, is one of the best young wide receivers in the country and has NFL talent.
And I haven't even mentioned the talented defenses the two teams put on the field (though Georgia's loss to Alabama and giving up 38 points to LSU doesn't look too good).
So let's stop dwelling on "the stomp" and prepare for the multiple stampedes to the end zone we'll likely be seeing.
Because, like I said, it's what we've all been waiting for.
