Florida coach Jim McElwain has been through his share of rivalry games.
As an offensive coordinator at Alabama, he experienced the joy of winning the Iron Bowl three times in four years.
As head coach at Colorado State, he led the Rams to a 14-point victory against Colorado in 2014, the largest victory in CSU’s favor in the Rocky Mountain Showdown since 1999.
And as an offensive coordinator at Montana State, he failed to win against in-state rival Montana on all five tries, leaving the Great Divide trophy with the Grizzlies.
"In case you can’t tell," he said, "that one stings."
And on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. — a Halloween affair — McElwain will be inducted into a new rivalry series with No. 11 Florida (6-1, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) taking on Georgia (5-2, 3-2 SEC) in Jacksonville.
If you ask his team, the previous rivalry games McElwain’s experienced pale in comparison to what awaits on Saturday.
"I don’t think he’s ready for how the stadium is going to look, blue on one side and red on the other," UF defensive back Nick Washington said. "It’s going to be exciting."
Last year’s game is still fresh in the Gators’ minds.
Florida entered the game 3-3, essentially out of the conference race for the second year in a row.
Georgia led the SEC East pack, sitting 4-1 in conference play and No. 9 in the country.
But at the hands of the run game, the Gators pulled off the 38-20 upset, UF’s first win in the rivalry since 2010.
"The atmosphere was crazy, the fans and all that," sophomore Quincy Wilson said.
"It’s a real big rivalry game. I think we just went in there and didn’t let any of the other stuff affect us, and we just came out with a win."
While McElwain said rivalries are one of the highlights of college football, he knows Saturday’s game against the Bulldogs has more than just personal meaning.
The winner will gain control of the SEC East, a clear path to Atlanta in sight.
But the Gators aren’t looking at it that way.
After pulling off the upset last season, Florida knows it needs to remain focused to come out with the win.
"We don’t want to fall in that trap where ‘Oh, we’ve got things in our hands, we just have to go out and beat them,’" offensive lineman Trip Thurman said.
"No, we have to prepare the same way we have week in and week out up to this point."
Added McElwain: "We’ve put ourselves in a position to where what we do is relevant. That’s kind of a neat thing. But it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t take care of what we need to do today to get ready for Saturday."
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UF coach Jim McElwain participates in UF's pre-game Gator Walk prior to Florida's 28-27 win against Tennessee.
