Everything to know about No. 2 Georgia vs. Florida

“There is shared excitement by all parties for the game to return to Jacksonville in the Stadium of the Future, which will be a world-class stadium that meets NFL standards, starting in 2028,” Jacksonville mayor Donna Deegan said during Friday’s announcement. “We are grateful that this matchup will continue bringing our communities together to celebrate college football and drive economic impact.”

Terms of the new deal were not immediately available. Under the current arrangement, Jacksonville pays each school $1.5 million, absorbs all travel and lodging and expenses and allows them to split the ticket revenue. That nets each school close more than $5 million a year.

It’s an equitable arrangement. Georgia’s team flies to Jacksonville directly out of Athens, a trip that takes about 90 minutes. The Gators ride in a bus from Gainesville, Florida, which takes about the same amount of time.

The advantage for both teams is never having to play on the other’s home field. With a 50-50 crowd split at EverBank, the fan representation is fairer. But the real benefit is the financial windfall.

Playing home-and-home would net the schools about $3 million every two years.

“(Georgia coach) Kirby (Smart) and I probably both agree that it’d be awesome to play home-and-home, but we also know that there’s a tremendous amount of revenue created by having this game in a neutral site,” Florida coach Billy Napier said. “So, money makes the world go around, and certainly the amount of revenue, there’s a significant difference in the revenue that’s generated, right? So, we play in Jacksonville.”

No. 2-ranked Georgia has won six of the past seven games here and six out of eight under Smart. The Bulldogs enter this year’s contest as a 16.5-point favorite.

Other things to know about the Georgia-Florida game:

Storylines for the Georgia-Florida game:

Homecoming day: Saturday represents a homecoming of sorts for Georgia quarterback Carson Beck and running back Trevor Etienne. Beck grew up about 10 miles from EverBank Stadium and earned his football reputation playing for Mandarin High School and the Pablo Creek Saints before that. As a fifth-year senior, will play his fourth and final game at the stadium as a collegian.

Etienne, a 5-foot-9, 205-pound junior, began his career at the University of Florida and played two games for the Gators against Georgia. He was Florida’s leading rusher against the Bulldogs in 2022 with 53 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown. Last year, Etienne finished second among Florida rushers with 42 yards on seven carries. Georgia won both games.

Suspensions upheld: The Bulldogs will be without two starting safeties for the first half of the game. Strong safety Dan Jackson and nickel back Joenel Aguero were each disqualified for targeting penalties in the fourth quarter of Georgia’s most recent game, against Texas on Oct. 19. That personal foul carries with a half-game suspension into the next outing if it occurs in the second half of a game. The Bulldogs appealed Aguero’s suspension with the NCAA, but it was upheld.

So, both players will be sidelined for the first two quarters against Florida. Jackson, a 6-0, 195-pound senior, is the Bulldogs’ second-leading tackler with 37 stops and also has an interception, two pass breakups and 1.5 tackles for loss. Aguero is eighth in tackles (19) and has four QB pressures.

Without them, look for the Bulldogs to start freshman KJ Bolden at Jackson’s safety position and junior JaCorey Thomas at nickel back. Bolden was a 5-star freshman out of Buford when he signed with UGA and has played extensively all season. He has 24 tackles, a sack and an interceptions. Thomas has played in all seven games and has two tackles.

Evans out: Georgia got some late-week disappointing news when it learned that wide receiver and kick returner Anthony Evans will be unable to play. Though there has been no confirmation from UGA, the 5-11, 170-pound sophomore from Converse, Texas, is thought to have suffered a hamstring injury in practice this week and could be sidelined a while.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Evans is the only player who has returned a kickoff or punt this season, and he has been good at it. He was averaging 8.4 yards on 14 punt returns and 17.5 yards on six kickoff returns.

With Evans sidelined, look for Dillon Bell to become Georgia’s primary returner on kickoffs. Who might replace him for punt returns is less clear. Dominic Lovett, Sacovie White, Malaki Starks and Michael Jackson have done it in practice and/or been listed on pregame depth charts.

Gators’ lineup changes: Florida will be without one of its better receivers. Eugene Wilson is the Gators’ third-leading receiver, with 266 yards on 19 receptions despite not playing in three games because of a hip injury. That hip injury placed the 5-10, 183-pound sophomore on the SEC availability report as out.

Wilson is one of 10 players listed as out for Saturday’s game. That includes senior quarterback Graham Mertz (knee). Now sidelined for the season, Mertz was replaced by freshman DJ Lagway. In his second start, Oct. 19 against Kentucky, Lagway averaged 37 yards on seven pass completions to lead the Gators to a 48-20 win over Kentucky in Gainesville.

Also emerging in that game was freshman running back Jaden Baugh. The 6-1, 227-pound athlete, who hails from Columbia High School in Decatur, tied a school record with five touchdowns against the Wildcats. Baugh had 106 yards on 22 carries in that game and comes into Saturday as the Gators’ second-leading rusher with 259 yards on 53 carries (4.9 ypc).

Unknown for Saturday is whether starting running back Montrell Johnson will play. The 5-11, 216-pound senior, who started ahead of Etienne the last two seasons, is listed as “questionable” with a knee injury. Also listed as questionable is right guard Dameion George, a seven-game starter.

Hall of Famers Fisher and Goldberg: A pair of former Bulldogs were added to Jacksonville’s Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame during induction ceremonies Friday at EverBank Stadium.

Bill Goldberg, a two-time All-SEC defensive tackle and four-year letterman from 1986-89, helped the Bulldogs go 3-1 against the Gators. That included a 26-3 victory in coach Vince Dooley’s final season of 1988, and a 17-10 victory as team captain under coach Ray Goff in 1989.

Mike Fisher was a Bolles School graduate from Jacksonville when he walked on with the Bulldogs in 1979. He went 3-0 against the Gators during his Georgia career, intercepting a pass in the Bulldogs’ 33-10 win in 1979 and grabbing two key interceptions in the famous 26-21 win in 1980. Fisher was the starting cornerback opposite Scott Woerner on the 1980 “Junkyard Dogs” defense, which forced a record 47 turnovers and had three shutouts. He tallied 39 tackles that season.

Being inducted alongside Fisher and Goldberg this year are Florida greats Fred Weary and Mike Peterson.

‘Cocktail Party’ comeback?

In 2006, the universities of Florida and Georgia encouraged everyone involved to stop using the pseudonym for their annual neutral-site game here on the banks of the St. Johns River – “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.” But the nickname appears to be making a comeback this year with signs posted all over the city and up and down the Golden Isles of Georgia and Florida.

Some alcohol-fueled tragedies had befallen students on both sides of the rivalry in the early 2000s. The thought then was the moniker that had long accompanied the game encouraged over-indulging and simply was inappropriate.

The city of Jacksonville actually had stopped using “Cocktail Party” references in their communications in the late 1980s after fans rushed the field in both 1984 and ‘85.

Today, alcohol sales at EverBank Stadium and inside each schools’ respective stadiums each and every fall Saturday have rendered that ban somewhat hypocritical.

As for the origins of the moniker, the late Bill Kastelz long has been credited. Sports editor for The Florida Times-Union in the 1950s, Kastelz came up with the name after watching fans openly drinking alcohol inside the stadium during a game.