Prove It: Georgia, Florida battle for College Football Playoff life

The Georgia Bulldogs and Florida Gators renew their rivalry on Saturday, but the stakes are far higher than they’ve been in recent years.

They call it the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, but the annual meeting between the Georgia Bulldogs and Florida Gators is anything but on the field. This is a rivalry game in one of the purest senses, played at a neutral site in Jacksonville, FL between two traditional SEC East powerhouses. As they meet on Saturday for the 2018 edition though, it’s more than that.

Coming into this matchup, the Gators are the ninth-ranked team in the country while the Bulldogs sit two spots ahead of them at No. 7. With just one loss for each team to this point — Florida’s coming in Week 2 against Kentucky, Georgia’s occurring two weeks ago against LSU, the last time that they played. Winning the SEC East is still very much in play for both teams, but the stakes are higher than just that.

Though these are two prestigious programs, recent years haven’t seen them meet at this type of level. Though one of the two teams has been ranked inside the top 15 in each of the last four meetings, both teams have been ranked in just one matchup since 2009, which came all the way back in 2012. For what it’s worth, the then-12th-ranked Bulldogs upset the then-No. 3 Gators, 17-9, in that matchup.

More than that meeting, though, the 2018 rendition of this rivalry game features two teams whose College Football Playoff hopes are very much alive. Gridlocked with a number of one-loss Power 5 teams behind the undefeated trifecta of Alabama, Clemson and Notre Dame, any major wins from now until the end of the season could be a deciding factor in a Playoff spot.

On the flipside, one more loss by any of these teams with just one to this point would all but put them out of the College Football Playoff. Subsequently, this matchup between Florida and Georgia isn’t just about pride and a step up in the rivalry — it’s about Playoff livelihood.

Kirby Smart’s Georgia team looked largely unflappable throughout the start of the 2018 season, pouring it on offensively and never fully breaking on the opposite side of the ball. However, the Bulldogs broke on both sides of the line against LSU as they were wholly dominated in their biggest test of the season.

As for Dan Mullen’s team in his first season in Gainesville, they looked shaky early on as they tried to find their footing, including their lone loss to Kentucky. Since then, however, they’ve righted the ship and earned impressive victories over Mississippi State and the aforementioned LSU Tigers.

The commutative property, however, doesn’t apply to college football. Just because Florida beat LSU and Georgia lost to LSU does not mean that the Gators are going to top the Bulldogs on Saturday. Even if this weren’t a rivalry game, things don’t work like that. When you then factor in the adrenaline rush of playing in this type of game with pride and more at stake though, past results can all but be thrown to the wayside.

There’s no questioning the fact that, on a pure talent level, that Georgia is the better team. When they are clicking on offense, they can beat you every way imaginable. Elijah Holyfield and D’Andre Swift are beastly in the run game, while Jake Fromm has been good and has a boatload of weapons like Mecole Hardman and Riley Ridley at his disposal. On top of that, their defense has high-end potential, even if they’ve been inconsistent.

At the same time, the Florida offense has been inconsistent in their own right. Though Feleipe Franks has been much improved from last season, he’s still a question mark from game to game. They’ve instead found a lot of success in the run game on offense, but have had the most success with their defense. The Gators front is lethal and, with experience behind them in the secondary, they can suffocate teams.

Looking at the Xs and Os, this game should be a tightly contested one. Though Georgia’s offense can be lethal, LSU proved that a great defensive performance can stifle them, and Florida’s defense is capable of delivering such a performance. What’s more, the Bulldogs linebackers will be put to the test in this one against the Gators rushing attack.

What’s clear, though, is that this game isn’t just about the rivalry. These teams both have an opportunity to make the College Football Playoff, even if they need help for that to happen. However, any help they receive won’t matter if they don’t win in Jacksonville on Saturday afternoon.