Florida football: Spurrier hopes UF-UGA game stays in Jacksonville

Since the Southeastern Conference spring meetings, a big question looms over Florida football’s rivalry game with Georgia.

Former Florida football coach Steve Spurrier thinks the Florida-Georgia rivalry game should stay right where it is.

He said so much to radio host and ESPN contributor Paul Finebaum this week.

“I can understand what Georgia is saying now,” Spurrier said. “In 1990, when I got here my first year, the Gators wanted to move that game.”

Prior to Spurrier’s arrival in Gainesville, Georgia had won 15 of the last 20 meetings in Jacksonville and Spurrier said that he was told Florida can’t beat Georgia there.

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"“I said ‘wait a minute, we take a bus ride over there … it’s in a stadium called the Gator Bowl … it’s on Florida soil … they have to fly down and travel a long way,'” Spurrier said. “I said ‘this has to be to our advantage,’ so we turned it into an advantage.”"

He said he understood where Georgia is coming from. He likened the annual game in Jacksonville to if Florida had to travel to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta to play Georgia saying “that wouldn’t make a lot of sense.”

However, Spurrier lauded Jacksonville as “a wonderful place,” and said “we hope it stays there.”

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart rose the idea of moving the game during the SEC spring meetings in Destin. He suggested having the game in Jacksonville is a disadvantage compared to holding the game at the campus sites.

Dan Mullen, on the other hand, was a little more non-committal when asked his opinion.

"“I will say this, obviously I think administratively is going to look at what they think is best for the program,” Mullen told 247Sports in late May. “For us moving forward, I think it’s one of the really neat, unique games in all of college football. There’s not a lot of games where you have that, where you have the stadium split right down the middle at a neutral site like that and within a rivalry game. Makes it a lot of fun to play in Jacksonville.”"

The rivalry game was started in 1915 and played in every season since 1926 — with the exception of a break in 1943 due to World War II. However, even that seems to be a question.

The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, according to Georgia, was first played in 1904 in Macon, Georgia. Florida, on the other hand, doesn’t count that first meeting. In fact, the schools have different records.

According to Georgia, they have a 52-43-2 advantage over the Gators. But, in Florida, that advantage is off by a game (51-43-2).

The Bulldogs have a two-game winning streak heading into the 2019 game after beating Florida 36-17 last season.

Both teams have has sustained success against each other in the game.

From 1941-1948, Georgia won all seven games — including a 75-0 pasting of the Gators in 1942. The Bulldogs won 11 of 16 from 1970 to 1983.

However, after Spurrier arrived in Gainesville, the Gators 18 of 21 dating back to 1990.

The game is scheduled to remain in Jacksonville through the 2021 season.