Georgia football legend Vince Dooley says Florida rivalry more intense than ever
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Georgia legend Vince Dooley has a warm place for the rivalry game with Florida, and the former football coach and athletic director says it’s only getting hotter.
“I think it’s just gotten more intense,” the six-time SEC champion coach told DawgNation. “It has been unusual in that there’s been chunks where teams dominated for periods of time, as opposed to back and forth.
“It’s become, to Georgia, the biggest rivalry because of the domination of Florida for a period of time.”
Dooley beat Florida with some degree of regularity during his 25 years as the Bulldogs head coach, going 17-7-1 including wins in nine of the last 11 meetings.
Dooley said the Georgia-Florida rivalry has always mattered, but it wasn’t the most important one during his coaching tenure.
“Florida was always big, but Auburn was bigger because usually the championship was riding on the Auburn game, and not just the Florida game,” Dooley said. “The toughest thing when I was coaching that we ever had to do was to play those two teams back to back.
“I vowed that I was going to get those two games (Florida and Auburn) split up on the schedule, and so we got it finally when I was the athletic director.”
Dooley was the UGA athletic director for 26 years, 16 of them coming after his College Football Hall of Fame coaching career.
The Georgia-Florida rivalry has come a long way in many respects over the years, he said.
“At one time it was all Florida, and by that I mean they had 50-yard line seats, Georgia had 20-yard line seats,” Dooley said. “And then all of the ticket takers all wore Florida caps, so we fought that for a long time.”
Dooley said there were times the Bulldogs’ discussed moving the game from Jacksonville.
“We’ve threatened it a coupe of times, but then they always go the extra mile to get some equity in the game,” Dooley said. “But yes, Florida has to get on a bus and drive 60 miles, we have to get in an airplane and fly down, but they balanced that out, too.”
Fact is, when Dooley was dominating Florida, the Jacksonville site wasn’t a big deal.
“When Georgia did well, we just felt Jacksonville was an extension of south Georgia, that’s how it was viewed,” Dooley said. “But then when Florida started dominating, then Georgia people said, ‘well, it’s a Florida home game,’ so it just depends, I suppose.”
This season’s version of the annual border state grudge match also known as the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” pits two top-10-ranked SEC teams in No. 7 Georgia (6-1, 4-1 SEC) and No. 9 Florida (6-1, 4-1 SEC).
The 3:30 p.m. Saturday matchup at the TIAA Bank Field, the home of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, will be nationally televised by CBS and features marquee buildup with both the SEC Network and ESPN’s College GameDay set on hand.
Georgia-Florida Football rivalry
(Gators lead 19-7 since SEC expansion in 1992)
2017 Georgia 42, Florida 7
2016 Florida 24, Georgia 10
2015 Florida 27, Georgia 3
2014 Florida 38, Georgia 20
2013 Georgia 23, Florida 20
2012 Georgia 17, Florida 9
2011 Georgia 24, Florida 20
2010 Florida 34, Georgia 31, OT
2009 Florida 41, Georgia 17
2008 Florida 49, Georgia 10
2007 Georgia 42, Florida 30
2006 Florida 21, Georgia 14
2005 Florida 14, Georgia 10
2004 Georgia 31, Florida 24
2003 Florida 16, Georgia 13
2002 Florida 20, Georgia 13
2001 Florida 24, Georgia 10
2000 Florida 34, Georgia 23
1999 Florida 30, Georgia 14
1998 Florida 38, Georgia 7
1997 Georgia 37, Florida 17
1996 Florida 47, Georgia 7
1995 Florida 52, Georgia 17
1994 Florida 52, Georgia 14
1993 Florida 33, Georgia 26
1992 Florida 26, Georgia 24
Post Dooley, pre SEC title game
1991 Florida 45, Georgia 13
1990 Florida 38, Georgia 7
1989 Georgia 17, Florida 10
Dooley Era Georgia-Florida rivalry
(Georgia 17-7-1)
1988 Georgia 26, Florida 3
1987 Georgia 23, Florida 10
1986 Florida 31, Georgia 19
1985 Georgia 24, Florida 3
1984 Florida 27, Georgia 0
1983 Georgia 44, Florida 0
1982 Georgia 44, Florida 0
1981 Georgia 26, Florida 21
1980 Georgia 26, Florida 21
1979 Georgia 33, Florida 10
1978 Georgia 24, Florida 22
1977 Florida 22, Georgia 17
1976 Georgia 41, Florida 27
1975 Georgia 10, Florida 7
1974 Georgia 17, Florida 16
1973 Florida 11, Georgia 10
1972 Georgia 10, Florida 7
1971 Georgia 49, Florida 7
1970 Florida 24, Georgia 17
1969 Georgia 13, Florida 13
1968 Georgia 51, Florida 0
1967 Florida 17, Georgia 16
1966 Georgia 27, Florida 10
1965 Florida 14, Georgia 10
1964 Georgia 14, Florida 7
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