Billy Napier says Florida understands importance of Georgia rivalry

Ahead of the annual rivalry matchup in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday between the Florida Gators and No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs, head coach Billy Napier described his team’s attitude toward the big game. It’s Napier’s first Florida-Georgia game as the Gators’ skipper.

“I don’t think there’s anyone that’s walking the halls in this building… most everybody understands the things that come with this game,” Napier said. “I grew up in the state of Georgia, grew up watching this game, our players are well aware, right?

“We’ve got a good percentage that have played in this game and we’ve got another percentage that grew up watching the game. So, we all understand the history and tradition of this game.”

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Although the ESPN matchup predictor gives Florida just a 7.2% chance of winning on Saturday, rivalry games have their ways of being unpredictable. Georgia has won four of the last five but there are still players on the Gators squad the remember the 2020 shocker that saw UF beat the Bulldogs behind QB Kyle Trask.

If Napier hopes to pull off another upset in Jacksonville, quarterback Anthony Richardson will need to have one of his best games of the year. In Week 7 versus LSU, Richardson completed just 60% of his passes, which ultimately wasn’t enough to topple the Tigers.

Florida, Georgia release statement on future of Jacksonville game

Heading into their Week 9 matchup, the Florida and Georgia programs released a joint statement on the status of talks between the schools regarding the future of the rivalry game in Jacksonville.

“The annual game between our two universities is an important tradition,” the statement reads. “At this time, both programs are focused on our current seasons. Typically both schools begin conversations regarding future games in the series as the last contracted game nears. We anticipate following that timeline.

“When those discussions take place, we will consider a multitude of factors, including tradition, finances, future SEC scheduling models with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma, and what is best for both schools’ football programs overall.”

Florida and Georgia have played the rivalry game every season since 1926 except for a war-time interruption in 1943. The series moved to Jacksonville in 1933 and it remains one of the few traditional neutral-site series left in college football.

The current contract for the Florida-Georgia game keeps the game in Jacksonville through 2023, however, there is an option to extend it through 2025.

The game on Saturday has a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff time and the game broadcast will be on CBS. Undefeated Georgia is a 22.5-point favorite, per the Vegas odds.