Dan Mullen says Florida faces unique situation against top-ranked Georgia

Just over a month after losing at home to the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide, 31-29, Dan Mullen and the Florida Gators welcome the No. 1-ranked Georgia Bulldogs to Gainesville.

An SEC football schedule is no easy task, regardless of how talented a team may be. But hosting two different AP top-ranked opponents within a few weeks, which Florida now faces, is a particularly rare challenge, according to Mullen.

“It’s a pretty unique deal. It’s the second time we’re going to play the No. 1 team in the same season. Not many people usually get to do that. That doesn’t happen very often,” Mullen said Monday. “And especially in the regular season. I think it’ll be a pretty big game for our guys.”

Florida was ranked No. 11 in Week 3, when it played host to Alabama, and after a brutal first-half performance, the Gators made a surging second-half comeback. Alabama quickly jumped out to a 21-3 lead in the first quarter, but Florida scored six unanswered in the second quarter, then 20 more in the second half. Ultimately, Florida’s fourth-quarter touchdown could have tied up the game, had they converted the two-point attempt. But after Mullen’s playcall fell short, so too did the Gators, losing just 31-29.

Three weeks after Alabama snuck out of the Swamp with a win, it traveled to College Station, Texas, where it lost on a game-winning, Seth Small field goal. After unranked Texas A&M pulled off a monumental upset, Alabama dropped in the AP polls, and Georgia, led by its stellar defense, vaulted up to No. 1, where Smart and the Bulldogs have been ever since.

“Obviously, the Florida-Georgia game is always a big game for our guys,” Mullen said. “I thought they had a pretty good week of practice last week [during the bye], and we’ve got to see how we come out today. Everybody is back, practicing today, so you want to see today’s response, back out there and practicing on the field. But I think our guys are pretty excited for the game.”

Since the loss to Alabama, Florida has lost its AP top-25 distinction, and its hopes of playing in a New Year’s Six Bowl have gone with it. Mullen and the Gators lost at Kentucky two weeks after the Alabama game, then lost to a mediocre LSU program shortly thereafter. Sitting at 4-3, the Gators have fallen to third in the SEC East; to avoid dropping down to .500, they’ll have to pull off a substantial upset over No. 1 Georgia.