The Florida–Georgia football rivalry is an American college football rivalry game played annually by the University of Florida Gators and the University of Georgia Bulldogs, both members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The programs first met in 1904 or 1915 (the status of the 1904 game is disputed) and have played every season since 1926 except for a war-time interruption in 1943. It is one of the most prominent rivalry games in college football, and it has been held in Jacksonville, Florida, since 1933, with only two exceptions, making it one of the few remaining neutral-site rivalries in college football. The game attracts huge crowds to Jacksonville, and the associated tailgating and other events earned it the nickname of the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party", although that name hasn't been officially used since 2006, as the schools and the SEC did not want to be seen as promoting excessive alcohol consumption.
Though highly contested on both sides, the rivalry has gone through several periods in which one team dominated for more than a decade. Georgia dominated the early series while Florida held the advantage in the 1950s and early 1960s. Georgia again dominated from the late 1960s through the 80s under coach Vince Dooley, while Florida again took the upper hand in the rivalry during the 1990s and early 2000s under coaches Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer. The series was uncharacteristically even over twelve seasons beginning in 2008, with the rivals enjoying and then suffering through alternating sets of three-game win streaks. After winning in 2025, Georgia has won eight out of the last nine meetings under coach Kirby Smart.
Series history Disputed beginnings
The two universities do not agree on the date of their first gridiron meeting. Georgia's football program was established in 1892, and in 1904, the Red and Black defeated the University of Florida Blue and White by the lopsided score of 52–0.2011 Georgia Football Media Guide , University of Georgia Athletic Department, Athens, Georgia, pp. 157 & 158 (2011). Retrieved August 19, 2011. However, this was not the current University of Florida, but a predecessor school based in Lake City which had been known as Florida Agricultural College (FAC) for twenty years before its name was changed in 1903 to reflect its expanded course offerings. FAC ceased to exist after the 190405 academic year, as Florida's Buckman Act merged it with three additional state-supported schools to establish the modern University of Florida in Gainesville.McCarthy, Kevin. Honoring the Past, Shaping the Future: The University of Florida, 1853–2003, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 6–10, 12–13 (2003). The new school opened in 1905 and established a football program in 1906. UF does not include games played by its four predecessor institutions in its official sports records, including Georgia's win over the University of Florida at Lake City.2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide , University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 116 & 126 (2011). Retrieved August 19, 2011.
Georgia, on the other hand, counts the 1904 game as a victory against its future rival. UGA sports historian Dan Magill sums up the school's attitude: "That's where Florida was back then. We can't help it if they got run out of Lake City."
The first game in the rivalry acknowledged by both schools took place in Jacksonville in 1915. The series has been played annually since 1926 except in 1943, when Florida did not field a team due to World War II."The rivalry: Florida vs. Georgia", CBS Sports (undated 2001). Retrieved August 20, 2011.
Series trends Georgia dominated the early rivalry. Florida did not score a single point against the Bulldogs until their fifth (or sixth) meeting. The Gators won their first two games against Georgia in 1928 and 1929, when coach Charlie Bachman's squads briefly brought Florida's football program to national prominence. However, after a scoreless tie in 1930, Georgia resumed its dominance, winning fifteen out of the next seventeen games in the series as coach Wally Butts led the Bulldogs to several SEC championships while the Gators suffered through a period of mediocrity in the 1930s and 1940s.
Florida finally enjoyed longer-term success in the rivalry in the 1950s under coach Bob Woodruff, a trend that continued into the 1960s under coach Ray Graves. The hiring of new Georgia coach Vince Dooley in 1964 evened the rivalry for the remainder of the decade, and in the 1970s and 1980s, his Bulldog squads usually won the game in Jacksonville while winning a national championship in 1980 along the way. Coach Steve Spurrier's arrival in Gainesville turned the rivalry back around beginning in 1990, and his Gator squads went 11–1 against the Bulldogs. Coach Urban Meyer continued Florida's winning trend through the mid-2000s, but the rivalry was unusually even between 2008-2019. Florida began a three game series win streak in 2008, which was followed by a three game Georgia streak, then another three game streak for Florida, which was answered by three Georgia wins, marking the longest evenly-divided dozen years in series history. As of the 2024 meeting, Georgia has won seven out of the last eight meetings, with current head coach Kirby Smart holding a 7-2 record against the Gators.
Conference implications & upsets Since the 1960s, the Florida–Georgia rivalry often held conference or national championship implications for one or both teams, and both schools have had title hopes dashed in the game, sometimes in a surprising upset. In 1966, the Bulldogs intercepted 3 passes by eventual Heisman Trophy winner Steve Spurrier, derailing the Gators' conference title hopes in a 27–10 upset. Florida's SEC title hopes were similarly dashed by the Bulldogs in 1975 and 1976, and their first ever stint atop the AP poll ended after one week in 1985 with a loss in Jacksonville. In 2002, Florida turned the tables by posting a major upset win over Georgia. It was the Bulldogs' only blemish on the season and likely cost them a chance to play for the national championship.
The rivalry took on even more importance when the SEC split into divisions in 1992. Both teams were placed in the SEC East, and the late season rivalry game often decided who would represent their division in the SEC Championship Game. This dynamic began quickly, as Florida's upset win over Georgia in 1992 cost the Bulldogs a berth in the inaugural SEC championship game. Subsequent rivalry losses in 2008, 2014, and 2020 also knocked the Bulldogs out of the SEC East race, while Georgia's win over an undefeated Gator squad in 2012 similarly knocked Florida out of championship contention. Over 32 SEC championship games during the league's division era, Florida represented the SEC East on thirteen occasions, Georgia in twelve.
The SEC dropped the division format for football when it expanded to 16 member schools in 2024. While the move to a nine game conference schedule beginning in 2026 disrupted many long-standing annual rivalries, the league preserved the Florida-Georgia game as a yearly affair.
Rivalry traditions
Site of the game The Florida-Georgia game has been played in Jacksonville almost every season since 1933. This neutral site trend began very early in the series; in over 100 meetings, the rivalry has been played at on-campus facilities on just seven occasions.
Florida's original football facility of Fleming Field was quite small and primitive, so early Gator squads regularly scheduled "home" games against major college opposition in various cities across the state. Early Florida-Georgia contests were held in Jacksonville (three times), Savannah (twice), and Tampa (once), along with several Georgia home games in Athens. (The disputed 1904 game was played in Macon, Georgia, another neutral site.)
Florida Field opened in 1930, the Bulldogs made their first trip to Gainesville in 1931, and the Gators made a return visit to Athens in 1932. The schools agreed to meet in Jacksonville in 1933, and the game has been played there every subsequent season except for 1994 and 1995, when the old Gator Bowl stadium was demolished and the current EverBank Stadium built on the same site for the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL. The Florida/Georgia game was held in Gainesville in 1994, in Athens in 1995, and then returned to Jacksonville in 1996.
There have been some calls to move the game from Jacksonville over the years, usually when one or the other school was dominating the rivalry.Tim Tucker, "UGA–UF game to stay in Jacksonville", The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (September 23, 1009). Retrieved August 20, 2011. More recently, Georgia coach Kirby Smart has argued that playing at a neutral site cost both programs a valuable home recruiting weekend every other year. However, the schools have repeatedly extended their agreement to play in Jacksonville, both for tradition's sake and because the neutral-site contest has become quite lucrative for the universities.Tim Tucker, "UGA weighs moving Florida game . . . but where?", The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (May 17, 2009). Retrieved August 20, 2011.Stewart Verney, "Money, not tradition keeps Florida–Georgia game in Jacksonville", Jacksonville Business Journal (October 5, 2010). Retrieved August 20, 2011. Florida and Georgia have long split ticket revenue for the game, and in 2019, the city of Jacksonville agreed to compensate the schools for the loss of a home game by paying all travel expenses plus a $1 million per year bonus, a figure which increases to $1.5 million in 2024. As of the latest renewal agreement, each university makes almost $4 million from the game every year, far more than the approximately $3 million every other year they would earn from a home-and-home series.
In 2026 and 2027, the rivalry will again leave Jacksonville for two seasons due to a major renovation of Everbank Stadium. However, unlike in the 1990s, it will not be played at the schools' on-campus facilities, but will instead shift to other neutral sites: Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2026 and Tampa's Raymond James Stadium in 2027. The game will return to Jacksonville in 2028, with the most recent contract renewal keeping the rivalry in the city until at least 2031.
"World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" The city of Jacksonville is willing to provide financial guarantees to keep the rivalry in town because the game weekend is extremely lucrative for local businesses, drawing thousands of fans to a community that is more known for its naval base and heavy industry than for tourism. Local hotels fill to near capacity, downtown and the Jacksonville Landing along the St. Johns River hosts festivities on Friday and Saturday, and the area around the stadium is alive with tailgating and other happenings on game day.
Besides Jacksonville, the Georgia Golden Isles also depend on the game to sustain businesses through the winter season. Georgia students and alumni spend the game weekend on the Georgia Coast, particularly on Saint Simons Island, where thousands of Georgia students gather each year at the aptly named "Frat Beach" on Friday before commuting to Jacksonville the next day.