1. Since Erk Russell wrote those words, what about the Georgia-Florida series has changed, apart from numerous Bulldog losses having nothing to do with venue and everything to do with coaching, talent, and psychology?

For lack of a better way to say it: Florida finally got its shit together. For years, Florida athletic department was bogged down in budget deficits, probation, and crappy facilities. As such, there was never any real sense of organization within their athletics. Obviously that has changed now. Dooley was coach at UGA for 25 years. During those 25 years, Florida went through 4 coaches, all of whom had a losing record to UGA. By turning over coaches every 5 years or so and then ending up on probation about once a decade, UF was never able to build any momentum in the series. Much like Yankee fans used to feel about the Red Sox: they knew that if they just played sound ball long enough, eventually the other team would blow it.

Florida used to play Auburn and UGA back to back with no bye week. That changed right around 1990. So did the dynamic of the series. With the divisional setup, everyone has forgotten how big of a rivalry that was. Florida basically had to play its two biggest conference rivals in consecutive weeks. UGA meanwhile usually had a bye prior to the Cocktail Party to get healthy.

To me, the game being in Jax has ALWAYS been a stupid idea. But, when you’re winning 2 out of 3 for 40 years, you get jaded to the stupidity of the idea and get in a habit of a fall holiday to go see friend and get drunk and have a 66% chance of not being disappointed. Now, playing our most important divisional rival 70 miles from their campus in a stadium formally named the Gator Bowl is just an advantage that UF doesn’t need.

Those days are gone and are not coming back. Since Dooley left, each school has had 3 head coaches. All three of UF’s have a winning record against UGA. Even when UF seems to make the type of mistake that would allow UGA to regain a foothold in the series (here’s looking at you Zooker), UF only lets the mistake stay 3 years as opposed to the 7 we gave Goff.

In short, what has changed is that Florida finally started living up to its potential. Now that it is, there is no shame in admitting that every other year we want a decided home-field advantage.

2. If nothing has changed aside from multiple Georgia losses at a neutral site where the ‘Dawgs once owned the Gators, how is the suggestion that we abandon Jacksonville to be interpreted as anything other than an act of cowardice and capitulation on the part of Bulldog Nation?

It’s funny, this is the EXACT same thing people said about Auburn when they finally got the balls to stop playing Alabama in B’ham every year. Since then, AU has a winning record against the Bammers and NO ONE says shit about that tradition ending.

Rational self-interest is not an act of cowardice. It’s common sense. ANY of our conference rivals can feel free to take our place in Jax. if they want to prove its not so hard to beat Florida down there. Let’s see if UT or LSU or anyone else jumps at the opportunity to be UF’s new cocktail date. If no one does, then they can STFU about cowardice.

3. If our withdrawal from the field of battle can be seen only as a retreat in the face of defeat, how will moving the game from Jacksonville accomplish anything other than emboldening an already confident enemy and providing grist with which to lure away our prospective recruits in South Georgia and North Florida to an opponent already possessing impressive recruiting acumen?

If we played USC in Augusta every year, would that help them recruit in GA, or would they still be viewed as losers since we beat them 4 out of every 5 years? UF is a recruiting machine with enough in-state talent that they don’t have to venture out of state at all to be a Top 5 program.

If we go head to head w/ UF on a South GA prospect, then I think UF’s "Georgia is our bitch" pitch would be stronger than UGA’s "We play one game a year in Jax so your family have a short trip to come watch you lose" option.

4. Upon the basis of what credentials do you claim to possess a more authoritative opinion upon the subject of Georgia football than Erk Russell?

None at all, but I’ll see your Erk and raise you a Bear: "That place down there(UF) is a sleeping giant. When they ever find the right coach, the rest of us are going to be playing for 2nd place. Nobody will beat ‘em."

Going back to #1, Bear was basically saying that once UF gets its shit together, they are going to be a machine. Spurrier came in and changed everything and as witnessed by firing Zook after 3 years, they are not going to be stupid enough to let some other coach run the program into the ground. Any advantage you can get, even if it is as small as a home game every other year, is a good thing.

The location is kind of what makes the game special – as opposed to being just another rivalry game. Everyone on both sides knows that Jax is sort of a hole, but I would still prefer alternating years in Jax and Atlanta, while maintaining the “neutral” site and even ticket division over changing it to just another campus and campus game.

I can see both sides of the issue. I think what I’d really like to see is a series that alternated between two neutral sites, one in Florida and one in Georgia. Unfortunately, the only stadium I know of in Georgia that could fill that role is the Georgia Dome, and even though I’m a big Falcons fan, I hate the friggin’ Georgia Dome. It’s ugly inside and out, it’s small compared to Sanford, and it has a non-retractable roof with artificial turf. Football was meant to be played outside, in the sun, in the elements. Domed stadiums are an offense to nature.

So, the way I see it, staying in Jacksonville is preferable to occasionally playing in the Dome. Now, if some T. Boone-esque investor wanted to build a nice stadium in, I don’t know, Savannah or something, I’d be all over that.

Domed stadiums are an offense to nature.

It may be somewhat irrelevant for you SEC folks, but spend a winter or two in Syracuse, and I think you’d change your mind on this…

The Dome is nice on early December nights. Now, there is no argument here that a retractable roof would be really useful for October Falcons games when it’s 65 and sunny out.

First off, I would like to mention that this is my first post, comment, or any other post on a blog, message board, or any other internet medium. I hope this goes well. I would like to point out that I really enjoy this site. I love the issues discussed and the creative and intelligent manner they are discussed. I have decided to stop reading and make a comment because you guys look like you have so much fun doing it and the discussion is thought provoking and interesting. I am a UF grad and an unhealthy fan like you guys. I try to be as unbiased as possible. I hope I am not overstepping my boundaries by posting a comment on this board.

If I were Richt, I would want to bring this series to straight home & home in Athens/Gainesville each year. This is not because I believe that we have such a tremendous home field advantage in Jacksonville. I agree with Kyle that our home field advantage is minimal, if any. However, like UGAMatt, I think that if I were a Dawg, I would want to bring it back home for tactical purposes.

Ever since 04, I think this entire complexion of this series changed, and the Gator dominance has subsided a little. This has been a result of Richt and UGA evening the talent gap with UF since from the 90. Since his arrival, Richt has gotten significantly better in bringing in talent and improving this program. You guys discuss all of the time that 05 was a fluke, and I will agree with that. Shockley plays that game, we lose. That would have been two in a row. We were better in 06, you guys were better in 07. 08 got away from you early and you couldn’t recover. We were more prepared and you guys expected to win based on the 07 result and the thrashing of LSU the week before. However, it’s hard to convince anyone that after the 07 game, your guys came into the 08 game scared and psychologically afraid of us. Our psychological advantage came during the game when the UGA players realized they ran into a buzzsaw that they were not prepared for. The Dawgs will never be that unprepared again going into this game, and they will never take a previous year’s result for granted.

The 02 & 03 games were clear cases of you guys psyching yourselves out because of UF’s domination in the 90s. Richt had just begun his tenure and felt the pressure of the UGA drought against the Gators. In my opinion, those were the last two years of any Gator psychological advantage in this series. It is evening out and 07 & 08 is evidence of that. Richt continues to bring the UGA program to higher levels. In addition to owning the state of Georgia, he is bringing in more out of state blue chippers than ever before. It is inevitable that, eventually and sooner rather than later, the Dawgs will start winning games in this matchup on a more consistent basis.

Wwwcmrd stated that UGA’s "success as a program in the SEC East is going to be measured, fairly or not, in part by our success against Florida." This is correct, although not entirely true. During the Spurrier era, UGA was not measured by its success against Florida head to head. On paper, the actual game rarely meant much for you guys; like us before the 90s, you were mediocre most of the time. The game wasn’t the measuring stick. It was actually your fans, alumni and administration comparing the direction of UGA program to the direction of ours. Our success coupled with your mediocrity was the telltale sign of how far you guys had fallen. The losses were salt in your wounds.

All of Richt’s successes and failures have a direct correlation to UF. Richt felt the pressure from the beginning to beat the Gators and end the head-to-head drought. For the most part he hasn’t been able to do that consistently in terms of the head-to-head matchup; however, he has been able to bring the program back to being a power. But ironically, Richt’s head-to-head games didn’t really end up meaning anything in terms of the division until 07,08. Before then, Richt’s success in the Florida game did not dictate the final outcome in the east. We defeated you guys in 02, 03, & 05 and you still managed to win the division.

But 07 & 08 were not flukes; they were results of how even our programs have become. UGAMatt is right: ttalent gap, coaching staffs, recruiting power on both sides are more powerful than ever before. In 09 we will probably be better (but not by much), in ’10 you guys will probably be better (but not by much) and so on and so on. The actual head-to-head matchup will be more important than ever for both teams. Richt knows this. He has been both haunted by Florida and had is greatest joys and pleasures against Florida. But he has also seen fans, media and other undermine his past successes when he loses to Florida. Every loss is followed by discussion of the failures of the past. UF has dictated his life, thoughts, dreams, and nightmares from the very beginning. Of course he wants out of Jacksonville. Not because he doesn’t think he can win, not because he thinks it’s an advantage for Florida, but because it gives no advantage to either team due to its neutrality. He wants an advantage for these upcoming games which will have unprecedented value for him and the program. He wants to be able to assure himself that every other year he will be able to walk into the game knowing that he has a tremendous asset on his side. The losses would be easier to swallow in the Swamp, and wins so much sweeter with 80,000 plus going wild in Athens.

Sometimes the tactical move may also be the "cowardly" move. We discontinued the Miami rivalry because we knew that we could get away with competing for the championship without playing them. That same rationale allows us to get away with scheduling cupcake after cupcake for our first two games. People call us cowardly and maybe it is. But we have three championships, none of which were any result of "showing guts" by scheduling a tough OOC game to start the season.

We are turning into what will likely be the most exciting, gut wrenching, hate-filled, intense, and important decade of this rivalry. Our programs are at their highest peaks and will likely be for a while. It’s pretty reasonable that Coach Richt wants to change the landscape. If I were him, I would want to as well.

I don’t think we should move the game. Not that my opinion matters, but there are a few points that I just don’t understand. They are as follows:

1. Home Field Advantage Mindset. This is the one I consider to be the most important. If we are ever going to be expected to win “the big one”, we need to forget this idea that we are at a disadvantage by playing in Florida. In all honesty, who cares? Do I want my team to blame (yet) another loss to Florida, in Jacksonville, on the possibility that there might be somewhat of an advantage to Florida because their school is closer to Jacksonville? Absolutely not. This entire idea is preposterous. I want my team to have a mindset of “anywhere, anytime”. I want them to go into every game with a chip on its shoulder and an attitude of “We will whip you on your front porch, on your back porch, in your living room, and, given Mark Richt’s propensity for away victories, most certainly in your backyard.” Correct me if I’m wrong, but Mark Richt has won in every other stadium in the SEC (other than Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field, of course). He’s won in Tempe, he’s won in Atlanta, he’s won in Clemson. These were all victories with decided disadvantages. Enough with the talk of Jacksonville being a disadvantage. Let’s quit with the excuses. Man up and play the game.

2. Victory is Sweeter. Would a victory over Florida in Athens or Gainesville be nicer than a victory in Jacksonville? I don’t know, but I find it hard to believe that it is possible to feel any more satisfied in Athens or Gainesville on a saturday night after beating the gators than I felt in Jacksonville, St. Simon’s, or in my living room. Victory over Florida is sweet, regardless of where you happen to find yourself.
       I will mention, however, that I do not think losing to Florida would be quite the same. Losing to the Gators in Gainesville would be bad. Losing to the Gators in Jacksonville is bad. Losing to the Gators in Atlanta would be almost unbearable. Losing to the Gators between the hedges in Athens, Georgia, and knowing that screaming Florida fans were going to trash my city from Hancock to Thomas, from Dougherty all the way down to Pinecrest…would certainly be grounds for suicide. This brings me to my last point,

3. Recruiting. Losing to Florida in Jacksonville doesn’t look good for recruiting. However, aside from losing in Gainesville, I think we are suffering fairly minimally in the recruiting sphere. Florida is Florida, and they will recruit Florida better than any other team in Florida. They won four national championships in the last four years between football and basketball. They don’t need much help. However, if they came into Atlanta or Athens and beat the brakes off of us, they are going to take a decided piece of the pie. I would prefer for Georgia high school players to never see Florida play a game in the Peach State. I definitely don’t want to guarantee that it happens every other year.

My (long, rambling) thoughts on this issue may be found here: http://thinkingbulldog.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/georgia-florida_on_the_couch/

Things have changed, Kyle. Here I use what I think is an excellent indicator of relative population distribution by state called, “The amount of members your state sends to the US House of Representatives.” If you have a similar population relative to the other states in the union, then you have the same amount of US HoR members.

Here is Florida
http://www.thirty-thousand.org/pages/FL.htm

Here is Georgia
http://www.thirty-thousand.org/pages/GA.htm

Now, there is something I’d like you notice here…what happens to this indicator from 1944 to 1964? Ga had more than Fl up to that point, and then it suddenly has less. 10 to 6 vs 10 to 12. Watch as that number steadily increases what happens to the win total of the Bulldogs vs that team. More people=more better football players. Now, I’ll admit, it took them awhile to get their collective stuff together, but they have.

That’s two things that have changed since UGA “owned” UF in this series. So, unless the swine flu hits Florida EXTRA, SUPER hard and they don’t have an equal amount of population, things have changed. They’ve changed A LOT!

Right now that US HoR number is 12 to 25. All things are not equal to what they were in the “good ole days”.