During his tenure at Florida, former Gators head coach Urban Meyer went 4-1 vs Georgia, with his only loss being the famous 2007 “Gator Stomp” game.
Meyer’s success against the Bulldogs has not yet been replicated by another Gator coach since.
Now, with Dan Mullen as the head guy in Gainesville, Florida is playing catch-up to Kirby Smart and Georgia. The Dawgs are 2-0 against Florida since Mullen took over and have won the last three vs the Gators.
Georgia has taken control of the series, holding a 6-3 record since 2011.
But Meyer, now a college football analyst with Fox Sports, thinks that this is the year that Mullen gets Florida back into the national spotlight, beats Georgia and navigates the Gators to their first playoff appearance.
“I think (Florida) should be in the playoff. I think it’s time,” Meyer told GatorBait’s Buddy Martin. “Dan’s built a good program. But I spent six years at Florida. Georgia is a big game. Until you beat Georgia you can’t say a thing. And I think this is the year.”
Meyer looks at 2020 as a transition year for Kirby Smart and the Dawgs.
He’s not wrong, but Georgia fans see the transition as a good thing. The Dawgs got an upgrade at offensive coordinator with Todd Monken, a fresh face at quarterback in Jamie Newman and what could even possibly be a boost at offensive line coach with Matt Luke coming into replace Sam Pittman.
There’s a lot of player talent to replace other than Fromm, but Kirby’s landed the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class in each of the last three years. I have no doubt that Florida will give Georgia a challenge the year, but I’m getting the sense that Kirby has Mullen’s number, and that’s not changing.
Florida is coming on strong, and many do expect the Gators to dethrone Georgia as SEC East champs in 2020. If that happens, it would make Florida the first team other than Georgia to win the division since 2016.
