I’m not sure I agree entirely with the premise of this post at Dawg Sports.
Like any rivalry, the one of Georgia and Florida has had its eras.
Over a good bit of time, it was marked by Georgia holding the overall upper hand. Of course, much to many on this site’s disdain, that changed with the arrival of the Head Ball Coach in 1990. Even with Mark Richt gaining a few wins in a series, it was too back and forth for the liking of some fans (really?! Losing to Ron Zook!!)
Sure, each team has had its moments of dominance. The intensity has never been an issue for both fan bases. But there has never been a visible genuine dislike by both programs. Sure, you had shoving matches and Spurrier’s one-liners, but he didn’t limit those to just Georgia (Free Shoes University and the UT Citrus Bowl are on the line 1…).
That’s changed with two coaches in Kirby Smart and Dan Mullen that straight up don’t appear to care for each other. It’s almost as if the dislike from each side mirrors from both the point of the fans and actual coaching staffs.
“But there has never been a visible genuine dislike by both programs”? I was in Jacksonville in 2007 and 2008, so I’m gonna have to disagree a little with that. Sure, Mullen’s a bit dickish, but don’t forget he learned those skills at the feet of a master dick.
But I digress. There is one thing in that post I firmly believe we ought to embrace wholeheartedly.
Like anything else, everything the Georgia program does is calculated to a purpose. The “Jacksonville, Ga” talk? That wasn’t just thrown together. It was a message and ‘MO’ set forth that the days of Georgia being owned by the Gators at a ‘neutral site’ were over.
Hells, yeah! Own that sucker. Quit making excuses about travel and location and nonsense about Gator bus rides and claim Jacksonville as part of south Georgia. Jacksonville is closer to Brunswick than to Gainesville. Act like it belongs to us.
Kirby’s already doing his part.
Get The Picture 
Amen! I’m so glad this rivalry is starting to flip back our way. The only way I want to move this series from Jacksonville is if the Gators are whining and crying about the location being unfair to them. I’m so tired of Georgia fans whining and crying about the inequity of the location.
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“…HAS flipped back our way.”
FIFY
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There actually is a Jacksonville, GA in Telfair County.
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Let’s move the game there then. 😉
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and as some my “friends” just love to point out…..if you put your GPS on most direct route b/w ATL and Waycross(as opposed to quickest….because it ain’t) you will end up going through Jacksonville GA.
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George Perry, 1933, 22 pounds, 6 ounces. STILL, 86 years later, the world record largemouth.
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Zactly…got kin folks from there.
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Absolutely! I grew up around there!
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I live in Wilcox County, just across the Ocmulgee….
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Having lived on St. Simons for the past seven years I can tell you Jacksonville feels very much like the exurbs. Savannah too, for that matter. It’s a quick trip on 95 either way.
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“Master Dick?” Is that a title you can claim and have printed on your card under your name, a al Esquire. Intriguing…..
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I’m pretty sure it’s Alfred called Robin.
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Oddly enough, he also called him that in the porn version of Batman.
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The largest Bulldog Club located outside Georgia is in Jacksonville. The only one bigger than Jacksonville is Atlanta.
My brother went to UF for grad school and all his UF friends will flat tell you Jax in a Georgia Bulldog town.
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There is actually a Jacksonville, Ga. So we already own Jacksonville!
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aside from history and tradition which I’m a big proponent of. I’ve never understood this concept that it’s not a neutral site. Tickets are split evenly and everybody can buy what they want on the open market. Georgia fans tend to buy more on the open market also. The landing generally looks like 70% red and black to me. But the decision making is going to be all about money. If we can move the Auburn game anything can happen now.
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It’s played in the gator bowl. Change that too.
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They did — 25 years ago!
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Change it back!
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And change that high falughtin pro stadium back to metal plate decking too.
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I’d prefer to leave it in Jax, but I’ve always wondered in the context of history how it came to be. One of the reasons for building Sanford Stadium was to have the “bigger games” played in Athens. Dr. Sanford was a huge advocate for on-campus stadiums / games (generally) and all the tangential benefits that brings.
So how in 1933, with his new stadium barely 4 years old, did it come to pass that we play Florida in Jacksonville ?
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Found this on Wikipedia
The Florida–Georgia game has usually been played at neutral sites rather than the schools’ respective home fields since the very beginning of the rivalry. Florida often played “home” games against major college opposition at off-campus sites before Florida Field was constructed in 1930. Up until that point, Florida’s “home” games against Georgia were held in Jacksonville (3 times), Savannah (twice), and Tampa (once), along with three Georgia home contests in Athens. The teams met in Gainesville for the first time in 1931, then returned to Athens in 1932. From 1933 onward, the game has been played in Jacksonville except for a home and home set in 1994 and 1995 when the old Gator Bowl was being rebuilt as Everbank Field for the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL. In almost 100 meetings, the game has been played in Athens or Gainesville a total of only seven times, and there are currently no plans to do so in the future.
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If you look in the Red & Black archives, people have been bitching about not ever getting it in Athens since at least the early 1950s. Wally Butts even wanted it changed, but one of the reasons included the financial hit the University took in traveling, etc., which is obviously not the case now.
But there are also editorials referencing the complaints of local merchants from the 50s and 60s. Moving it from Jacksonville is hardly a new debate.
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Athens merchants complaining about missed revenue isn’t quite the same as fans whining about it being unfair. The whining (in my memory over 40+ years) came about after Spurrier’s run.
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Why did we play Auburn in Columbus? Cause it was easier to get to by train…
Why did Georgia play so many games in cities other than Athens prior to 1940? Because it was easier for teams to meet in cities where there were rail lines going to.
Why did Alabama (Arkansas) play most of its games in Birmingham (Little Rock)? Cause it was easier for other teams to get to by train, than Tuscaloosa (Fayetteville)…
It is hard to believe, but less than one hundred years ago getting from Athens (or any of these college towns) to big cities was not as simple as driving 70 MPH in your car on a four-lane highway!
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For sure on all counts. And in some ways, there are certain things about rail (special express trains) that could almost make gameday easier if you could find a way to implement it [again]. Didn’t they propose that in the mid to late 90s ? The gameday express or something ?
There’s a good write up by a journalist (I think traveling with Yale for the 1929 dedication game). The Yale team gets off at the downtown train depot and walks the short distance into downtown for their stay at the Georgian hotel. Almost sounded like something you’d see traveling in Europe, but at the same time, through very descriptive writing of that day, you can see the whole scene of downtown Athens on gameday 1929 and it sounds very similar to gameday 2019. (absent the street garlands celebrating the opponent, which we had back then. Oh chivalry.)
Another interesting thing about the Dedication game (and trains) is that they parked sleeper cars on the central of Georgia track next to the stadium for use as overnight accommodation for many of the dignitaries coming into town. “The Original Track People” you might say.
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Some of us low country residents know it as the “Biggest Town in Baja Georgia”. All the best locals in Nassau & Duval Counties are Bulldog fans.
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Closer to Brunswick than Gainesville? I thought we played in Athens. Weird.
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UGA football “runs the state of Georgia”, has majority stake in “big urnge cuntry”, needs to slap clemmons around a few times for the required ownership of the palmetto state, UGA is on the verge of putting the “process” hammer lock on FU for the “we run that state also” rights….sights set on the bammer community, will be up hill…let the ride begin! GO DAWGS!
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Our record against Clem’s Son is pretty danged good, especially the last few.
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I have a Proclamation signed by the Camden County Commissioners that proclaimed Jacksonville, Florida annexed to the “Sovereign State of Georgia”, but only during the actual time the Georgia-Florida game was being played.The time restriction, as explained in the Proclamation, was due to water and air pollution in the Duval County area. Was signed November 5. 1975. You think Coach Dooley didn’t own Jacksonville?
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I live in Jax (Ponte Vedra) and can attest that I see just as many if not more Georgia hats, shirts, and car decals as Florida and Florida State around here. Ga/Fl is typically the only time a year I get to see my Dawgs play in person. The WLOCP is one of my favorite traditions and I hope it never leaves Jax.
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+1
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