The Friday Tailgate Is Southbound, And Can Smell Gainesville From Here.

It's Friday, and by now many of you are probably headed down to St. Simons, Jekyll, and other coastal locales. Others of you are bunkered down and waiting for your emotional beating. Georgia fans handle the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party in a variety of ways. However you choose to deal with it, this is the place to start. The virtual tailgate where we swap stories and predictions while waiting for the weekend to begin.

Maestro, the soundtrack if you will:

If you've been reading Dawg Sports this week you have already been privy to a lot of good analysis of the upcoming matchup between #10 Georgia and #2 Florida. Really at this point there's not a whole lot to add. If Georgia wins the turnover battle, plays a mistake-free, physical game on defense, and can run the ball enough to establish the downfield passing game, the 'Dawgs have a fighting chance. Momentum has a way of snowballing on the banks of the St. John.

If however Mike Gillislee is given room to run, or if (as is usually the case) the Bulldog D can't account for the running quarterback, and the red and black get that "here we go again" feeling early, it's going to be a long, long afternoon. And if that happens, the discontent of the Bulldog fan base is likely to find expression in a lot of unpleasant ways.

Frankly, I don't know what's going to happen. That's why I'm asking you. It's the return of Over/Under. Everyone knows the rules at this point, so I ask you, commentariat, over or under?

1. Mike Gillislee will rush for 99.9 yards.
2. Todd Gurley will rush for more than 99.9 yards.
3. Georgia will be +0.9 in the turnover department.
4. Aaron Murray will throw for 249.9 yards.
5. Marlon Brown will have 4.9 receptions.
6. Uncle Verne will use the phrase "Gurshall" 2.9 times.
7. Jeff Driskel will complete 54.9% of his pass attempts.
8. Will Muschamp will scream at Tracy Wolfson 0.9 times.
9. Jarvis Jones will register 1.9 sacks.
10. Georgia misses 0.9 field goals/extra points.

Now, the prediction. I really, really want the Bulldogs to win this one. Really, I cannot stress to you how much I want to win this one. Because an underdog UGA squad coming in and torpedoing Florida's national championship aspirations would be the best evidence yet that this series is starting to turn around. Because historically that's kind of been the opposite of how this thing goes down. But I just don't see it. It's entirely possible that this game is Endzone Dance, Part II. You'll recall that in 2007 the Bulldogs came in after barely holding on to beat Vandy. They then ripped into Jacksonville like a whole new team.

That's possible, but I don't think it's probable. This team has looked disorganized, unmotivated and frankly piss poor since the second quarter of the Tennessee game. At this point we are who we are. I expect the best effort we've seen in a month, but I don't expect it to be enough. Final score: UF 28, UGA 23.

Until later . . .

Go 'Dawgs!