The Georgia Bulldogs (7-0) play the Florida Gators (5-2) on Oct. 28 in Jacksonville, Florida. The Georgia-Florida game starts at its usual 3:30 p.m. ET timeslot and will be televised on CBS.
Georgia, who will be playing in its first game without star tight end Brock Bowers, enters the Florida game as -14.5 point favorites, per BetMGM.
Adam Dubbin of Gators Wire helps us analyze the latest edition of the Georgia-Florida rivalry. Georgia and Florida are two programs that will continue to play each other annually under the new SEC schedule format starting in 2024.
Let’s take a look at this week’s edition of Behind Enemy Lines with Adam Dubbin of Gators Wire:
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How do Florida fans and media feel going into the Georgia-Florida game? The Gators have had some highs and lows to start the year.
The general majority has a very honest outlook in that UGA is still a vastly superior team to UF in 2023. Sure, Florida has had some peaks and valleys but those valleys exposed some significant issues with the program while the peaks simply were not high enough to match what the Dawgs have done.
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How do you evaluate Florida quarterback Graham Mertz, who transferred to the Gators from Wisconsin?
Mertz has been a perfectly cromulent signal-caller under quarterback, regularly making the right reads and checking down his options to achieve maximum efficiency. While he had a career day against South Carolina, his downfield passing is still very suspect, and if it were not for the exceptional talented receiver Ricky Pearsall, this could be a completely different conversation.
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What do Florida fans think about Georgia winning back-to-back national championships after the Bulldogs had so many years of frustration?
We hate it. Nobody feels bad for Georgia’s struggles and we loathe every moment UGA remains at No. 1.
(Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
We are 1.5 years into the Billy Napier era. How do Florida fans view Napier’s on-field success?
The on-field success has been pretty mediocre, and truth be told, we will not know if this fall was a success until we see the final record. If Florida finishes under .500 again, the pitchforks and torches will be out.
Florida Gators quarterback commitment DJ Lagway is one of the top players in the class of 2024. Matt Pendleton-USA TODAY Sports
Can Florida sustain its recruiting success with the class of 2024? The Gators have the No. 3 ranked recruiting class right now.
Frankly, the entire future of this team depends on the success of the 2024 cycle and its successors. If Napier and Co. can walk the walk after talking all the talk, there is no reason to think he and his staff cannot maintain it.
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What are the top reasons to have optimism for this Florida team?
The culture that Napier is instilling, the plethora of prep talent that will be flooding the Swamp in the years to come and the cyclical nature of sports — Florida’s turn will come again soon.
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What are Florida’s biggest weaknesses?
Inability to force and recover turnovers is he biggest blemish on the team. And that is an extension of the defense’s erratic play over the first seven games.
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Which Georgia player are you most concerned with?
With Brock Bowers out, it’s all in Carson’s Beck’s hands. UGA’s defense should be capable of slowing Florida’s offense, so it’ll be up to the Dawgs’ offense to give the D some breathing room. If Beck is on and the Gators’ secondary slacks, it will be over early.
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
How do you the predict that the Georgia-Florida game will go?
Georgia still holds a strong edge over Florida when it comes to sheer talent on its roster; additionally, the coaching is a step beyond as well. However, the Gators have picked up some momentum in the last couple of weeks and might be peaking at just the right time to catch the Bulldogs off guard — especially with Brock Bowers out for the game.
However, Napier’s defensive corps has left something to be desired, particularly when it comes to forcing turnovers. The Orange and Blue will fight valiantly but will come out empty-handed.
Georgia 34, Florida 27
[Bob Self/Florida Times-Union]
James Morgan of UGA Wire went into depth on how the Bulldogs stack up ahead of the Florida game in another version of Behind Enemy Lines that published on Gators Wire.
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