Florida Football: Gators stoned Dawgs last season

There are 21 days till college football season, and today is about one of the best rivalries in the SEC, The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.

While it may no longer be officially referred to as the cocktail party, but we all know what it is. And in recent history, the annual trip to Jacksonville has been very kind to the Florida football program.

Georgia does lead the all-time series 50-43-2, but things have changed a lot over the last couple of decades. When Steve Spurrier arrived in Gainesville, the Gators turned this rivalry upside down, and they’ve kept the mojo going long after the Ol’ Ball Coach left.

Since 1990, Florida is 21-6 against the Bulldogs, including a current three-game winning streak. On their way to a second straight SEC East title, the Gators shut down the Bulldogs’ offense. And that leads us to no. 21 on the Southbound and Down College Football Countdown.

Florida held Georgia to 21 rushing yards in their 24-10 win in 2016

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With all the talk of Georgia’s dynamic backfield duo of Nick Chubb and Sony Michel, the Gators were not impressed. Florida held Chubb to 20 yards on nine carries, and Michel to 2 yards on three carries. The two also combined for two receptions for 24 yards.

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Florida’s defense disrupted everything Georgia wanted to do offensively. They made Georgia one-dimensional, and the Bulldogs completely abandoned the run. No matter how well the Gators’ defense was playing, it’s incomprehensible that you would only give their two stud running backs only 14 touches in the game.

Georgia scored 10 points on two of their first three drives, but Florida put the shackles on them after that.

On the Bulldogs final 10 drives of the game, Florida forced six three-and-outs and two four-and-outs. And one of their other two drives was a punt and the other was the end of the first half. On those 10 drives, Georgia ran 37 plays for 85 yards, an average of 2.3 yards per play.

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Georgia is getting all the hype going to the 2017 season, but if their road to Atlanta goes through Jacksonville, and the confines of Everbank Field have been very nice to the Florida football program.