It doesn’t get much bigger than Saturday’s Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville.
One of the fiercest rivalries in college football; a top-10 matchup; a trip to the SEC Championship Game (and maybe the College Football Playoff) on the line.
“This is a big game. If our guys aren’t juiced to play in the game, they’ve got problems,” UF coach Dan Mullen said. “You come to Florida to play in big games, to play in rivalry games like this.”
The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party — which kicks off at 3:30 p.m. on CBS — comes after a very opportune bye week for the 7-1 Gators. Three key pieces — receiver Kadarius Toney, defensive lineman Jabari Zuniga and linebacker Jonathan Greenard — are all expected to return from injury.
The dynamic Toney, who accounted for 629 all-purpose yards last year, has been out for almost two months with a shoulder injury. Zuniga and Greenard, two stalwarts of UF’s defense, have both been out with ankle injuries since Florida’s loss to LSU on Oct. 12.
“When we’re all out there… we have the best defense in the country,” Greenard said.
That full-strength defense will have to figure out a way to contain one of the best running backs in the nation, D’Andre Swift. He’s averaging 107.4 yards per game (best in the SEC) and is a big reason why No. 8 Georgia has the third-best scoring offense in the conference.
Quarterback Jake Fromm is another reason. UGA’s junior signal caller has the third-best completion percentage in the SEC (70.7) and torched the Gators defense last year with a 17-for-24, 240-yard, three touchdown performance.
Georgia’s defense also has a claim for “best in the country.” The Bulldogs are allowing just 10.6 points per game, the best mark in the conference by almost five points.
Despite these impressive numbers, the Bulldogs have looked beatable in recent weeks. They were upset by South Carolina (3-5) on Oct. 12 and were locked in a scoreless tie well into the third quarter with Kentucky (4-4) before eventually pulling away in their last game. Both contests were at home.
Florida quarterback Kyle Trask could end UF’s two-game losing streak in the rivalry. Despite having only five career starts, Trask does have experience in big games: He led the Gators to a win over then-No. 7 Auburn on Oct. 5 and became the first UF quarterback since 2016 to pass for over 300 yards in his team’s 42-28 loss to LSU the next week.
“I’ve obviously been in big environments before,” Trask said. “I think that’ll just give me that extra confidence going into a week like this.”
Follow Sam Campisano on Twitter @samcampisano. Contact him at scampisano@alligator.org
Receiver Kadarius Toney returns to UF's offense Saturday.
