As I write today, we are a full day away from the college football game of the year. Tomorrow in Jacksonville, Florida, the Georgia Bulldogs will take on the feared Florida Gators from Gainesville, Florida. Even if you live on another planet or hate college football to the max, you will have heard of or come into contact with some aspects of this game. This is the game of the year, maybe even the decade, hands down. I’m a partial Georgia fan, but I’ll try to explain why this game is so special.
The game will be played in Jacksonville, Florida at a “neutral” site. Jacksonville appears to be a perfect dividing line between the two states. Fans start arriving early in the week to take part in all the activities in and around Jacksonville. They come in trailers. They come in cars with divided family loyalties. They come dressed in red and black, blue and white. All these fans mingle, party and talk trash together. This continues throughout the week and turns into a rage around 3:30 pm, game time on Saturday. Where else in America can this happen without violence and bloodshed?
This year will once again be a preview of two future NFL QB draft picks. Georgia’s Matt Stafford and Florida’s Tim Tebow are hands down two of the best quarterbacks in college football today. Stafford of Georgia is a pocket quarterback who can signal passes up and down the field. His team leadership and his calm demeanor have NFL scouts gasping. Florida’s Tim Tebow is a punching and punishing competitor as a fullback who can beat you with the pass and his running game. Tebow has the Heisman, but both he and Stafford are looking for the national championship that has eluded them in their college career.
This game will naturally have both national and conference implications. Georgia ranks sixth in the BCS and has an outside opportunity to play in the championship game in Miami. Florida is ranked 8th and has been rising steadily in the polls. Every year it seems these two teams compete for the SEC East title for the right to play in the conference championship game in Atlanta. Whoever wins this game will be in the driver’s seat for many season brackets. These circumstances always seem to add an extra touch to an already heated rivalry. Year after year, tough competition in major league soccer has allowed the cream of the crop to rise to the top in both programs. Having something at stake every year when you play sets this game apart from an unbalanced USC game or the boring Ohio State game. Big games are the norm in the SEC.
This game features two highly respected and innovative trainers. Georgia’s Mark Richt and Florida’s Urban Meyer are offensive coaches who seem to enjoy playing against each other every year. They say they are friends, but both are very competitive and surely want to beat the other. Florida’s Meyer has already won a national championship that has eluded coach Richt so far. Each one is a master motivator who will always have a special trick or two planned just for this game. Boy, it sure is exciting to see the fans, coaches, and players engage together in a rivalry that has spanned over 70 years. When I was a kid growing up in Chicago, I naively thought we exclusively knew how to play soccer and how to be a soccer fan. After moving to Atlanta in early 1991, I found a soccer atmosphere beyond anything I had imagined. This game of rivalry is what college football is all about. GO DOGS! Remember, if you are ever in Jacksonville at the end of October, make sure you get a ticket to THE game and experience it for yourself.