The Georgia-Florida game is always fun, but coming into the season I don't imagine this game was circled on very many calendars.
Sure, it's a rivalry game, but I get the vibe that most Bulldogs and Gators thought of this game the way they thought of the Georgia-Tennessee game.
This year, it's not going to be that important.
But my, how things change.
Suddenly we have de facto elimination game in the SEC East, at least for Florida, which has only one blemish on its ledger — an early season home loss to a Kentucky team that has lost just once since.
A Georgia win puts the Dawgs squarely in the driver's seat, while a Gator victory (plus an assist from either Missouri, Georgia or Tennessee) could send Florida to Atlanta for the third time in four years.
And with all that in mind, here are some random factoids that will likely have no bearing on the game whatsoever.
The last time...
1) These teams met:
It was, by my estimation, the most dominant seven-and-a-half minutes of football I have ever seen on the field from the the men who wear Red and Black.
Florida gets the ball. Three and out. Punt.
Four plays later, it's 7-0 Georgia.
Dominck Sanders interception.
It's 14-0 three plays later on a beautiful lob from Jake Fromm to Javon Wimms.
Three and out. Punt.
Sony Michel goes 74 yards untouched.
21-0 Bulldogs, and there's still 7:32 left in the opening period.
That fire did calm down a bit, but not before Georgia raced away to a 42-0 lead in the second half, and a 42-7 victory in Jacksonville.
2) Georgia beat Florida by double-digits twice in a row:
Last year's 35-point victory was the largest margin of victory in the series since the Gators 49-10 win in 2008, and the most by the Bulldogs since a 44-0 victory in 1982.
But to answer this question, we need to dive even further into the past, all the way back to the '40s.
The last time Georgia won the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party by double digits two years in a row was a six-year stretch from 1941 to 1947. (The teams didn't play in 1943 due to World War II.)
That stretch saw the Dawgs win 19-3, 75-0, 38-12, 34-0, 33-14 and 34-6.
3) A one-loss Florida team lost the Cocktail Party:
The Gators come into this game 6-1 on the year, with their sole loss coming to a not-as-bad-as-we-thought-at-the-time Kentucky team, as we mentioned before.
It's been more than two decades since Florida came into this game with a single loss, and left with a second.
In 1997 (My God that was more than two decades ago, wasn't it?) a 6-1 Gators squad, whose only loss was to LSU in Baton Rouge, got wholloped by Jim Donnan's Bulldogs 37-17.
Since then, Florida is 8-0 in Cocktail Parties when entering the game with one loss.
4) Georgia lost a game to the SEC East:
The Bulldogs come into this game riding an 11-game winning streak against the East, with its last loss coming...to Florida, in 2016.
Jacob Eason spent most of that day running for his life, as the Gators defense mauled a less-than-stellar UGA offensive line, winning 24-10.
Since then, the closest any East team has kept the score was Kentucky, a week after the '16 Cocktail Party. A Rodrigo Blankenship walk-off winner was the difference in a 27-24 Georgia victory.
5) Florida lost to Georgia and Kentucky in the same season:
I know this was low-hanging fruit, but whatever. It's my blog and I do what I want.
It's been well-documented that the Wildcats win this year was their first over the Gators since 1986, before yours truly was even alive.
But I digress.
What you may not know is that Florida still managed to beat Georgia that season, 31-19.
So for this stat we must return to one of the most putrid squad of Gators ever: 1979.
That team finished 0-10-1, including a 31-3 dismantling at the hands of Kentucky and a 33-10 smackdown in Jacksonville.
Oh, but they tied Georgia Tech 7-7 for their only non-loss of the year. (LOL.)
6) Kirby Smart surrendered a touchdown to Dan Mullen:
Smart hasn't allowed Mullen to reach the end zone on his defense in eight full quarters.
The last time it happened was in 2014, when Dak Prescott scored what turned into a meaningless touchdown with 0:15 remaining as No. 5 Alabama beat No. 1 Mississippi State 25-20.
Since then, Mullen, in two more games with the Other Bulldogs, has scored nine whole points against Smart's defense in a 31-6 Crimson Tide victory in 2015 and last year's 31-3 Real Bulldog bodyslam in Athens.
7) Florida won six games in a row:
A win Saturday would be six straight for the Gators, a feat they haven't reached since 2015.
In the only six games of the Will Grier era before his departure over performance enhancing drugs, Florida raced out to a 6-0 record to start the year (7-0 when you factor in a win over East Carolina in the Birmingham Bowl the year before) before falling back down to earth, with three straight losses to close out the season.
Since that 6-0 start, Florida's longest winning streak is its current five-game winning streak. The next closest are a handful of three-game streaks.
8) Georgia beat Florida AND won a road game against the SEC West in the same season:
One of the major blemishes of the Smart era thus far: He is 0-3 against the SEC West on the road, losing by scores of 45-14 (Ole Miss '16), 40-17 (Auburn '17) and 36-16 (LSU '18). Obviously, this streak won't be broken this week, but let's look at it anyway, just for giggles.
For this stat, we will obviously be digging back into the Mark Richt era, where wins over the SEC West were fairly common, but wins over the Gators were not.
Thankfully, the 2012 season happened.
That year, Richt led the Bulldogs to an 11-1 record, which included a win over Florida in Jacksonville, 17-9, and a victory over Auburn on The Plains, 38-0.
Since then, Georgia has either lost to the Gators ('14, '15) , lost to the SEC West on the road ('13, '17), or both ('16). This year could fall into option "B" or "C" depending on Saturday's outcome.
9) Florida allowed 50-percent third down conversions in the Cocktail Party:
Let us return to 2014, when a heavily favored Georgia team layed an egg in Jacksonville. (When does that ever happen?)
The Gators piled up 418 rushing yards in a 38-20 smackdown, but they weren't necessarily as dominant on defense. (OK, yes they were, but here's some numbers anyway.)
The Bulldogs still managed to convert 7-of-14 (50-percent) third downs on offense, to go with 460 total yards — slightly outpacing Florida's 445.
Since then, Georgia's third down percentage in Jacksonville has been: 17-, 29- and 38-percent.
10) Georgia beat a Top 10 Florida team:
The Bulldogs come in ranked No. 7, the Gators No. 9.
This is actually the first time since 2012 that Florida comes into the game with a Top 10 ranking, a game that saw No. 12 Georgia, behind the magical dread locks of Jarvis Jones, eke out a 17-9 victory against the third-ranked Gators.
So, that's your answer. 2012.
But here's an extra stat for you. When both teams come into the game ranked in the Top 10, which has happened only four times in the history of this game, it's an even split, 2-2.
Georgia won two such games in 1976 and 1983, and Florida has won the last two, in 1999 and 2008.
***
For some reason (and perhaps this should be alarming) I don't find myself too worried this week.
Do I think it'll be a blowout like last year's Cocktail Party? Absolutely not.
But I trust Kirby Smart's ability to have his team ready (constantly reminding myself that the years of Richt letdowns should be behind us) and Jim Chaney's knack for having Todd Grantham's number.
As of this writing, Vegas likes the Dawgs by a touchdown.
Give me a cover, but not by much.
Georgia 28, Florida 20.
