Last year’s Georgia-Florida game served as the end of an era. The Billy Napier campaign as Florida’s coach had come to an end in October, as he was fired just before the Georgia-Florida game.

The 2025 game, Georgia’s fifth-straight win in the series, was also the last in Jacksonville, Florida, for a while. Renovations to the stadium have moved the annual Georgia-Florida rivalry game for the 2026 and 2027 seasons.

When Georgia and Florida meet in Atlanta on Halloween of this season, it will be the first time in series history that the two sides meet in Georgia’s capital city.

Those stakes make the debut of new Florida coach Jon Sumrall seem somewhat smaller.

Sumrall arrives after having led Tulane to the College Football Playoff last season. He’s spent time in the SEC footprint in his stops at Troy and Tulane. He played as a linebacker at Kentucky and has coaching stops at Ole Miss and Kentucky along his coaching career.

The last time Florida hired a Group of 6 coach from Louisiana, it didn’t go so well for Napier. He never beat Georgia, something the last seven Florida coaches were able to do during their tenures. Charley Pell was the last Florida coach to go winless against the rival Bulldogs

Even with a disappointing record last season, Georgia was very respectful of the talent on Florida’s roster. Florida had seven players taken in the NFL draft compared to Georgia’s eight.

Sumrall isn’t the only new coach on staff at Florida, with former Georgia assistant Buster Faulkner taking over as the team’s offensive coordinator. Faulkner previously worked at Georgia Tech for the past three seasons.

Georgia did get the best of Faulkner in his most recent game against the Bulldogs, as the Yellow Jackets didn’t score a touchdown in their 16-9 loss to Georgia last season. The game was played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the same venue for this year’s game against Florida.

Faulkner also landed a few of his former players with him, including wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr. and quarterback Aaron Philo. While Sumrall may not know what it’s like to coach against Georgia, he’s got plenty of players who understand the meaning of this game.

For as much newness as there will be in Atlanta next season, there are still some familiar faces when it comes to this rivalry. Running back Jadan Baugh bypassed the transfer portal to remain at Florida. Playmakers Ventrell Brown Jr. and Dallas Wilson are back as well.

Florida might be somewhat glad to get out of Jacksonville for a few seasons. Georgia has won eight of the previous nine in this series, something it hasn’t done in this rivalry since a stretch from 1975 through 1983.

As for Georgia, it’ll hope to maintain the same level of dominance in this rivalry. New coach, new venue, it doesn’t matter.

Beating Florida is still paramount for the Bulldogs to have a successful season. Especially as it leads into a November that sees Georgia go on the road for trips to Ole Miss and South Carolina.

For years, it was a common complaint that the Georgia-Florida game wasn’t a true neutral site game for the Gators because the game was still played in Florida.

With this year’s game a 90-minute drive from Sanford Stadium, Georgia will get to see how much of a benefit that short trip really provides.