Georgia Bulldogs are Florida Gators fans?

By
mikecapshaw
-

Georgia Bulldogs fans are Florida Gators fans, at least for this one Saturday anyway.

The Bulldogs will benefit in the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division if their-long-time rival Florida beats South Carolina in a game that begins at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Florida is 5-0 in SEC play, just ahead of one-loss Georgia (3-1) and South Carolina (4-1) in the Eastern Division standings.

A Gators win Saturday would all but eliminate the Gamecocks, which handed the Bulldogs their lone loss, from contention.

With Florida playing Georgia on Oct. 27 in Jacksonville, Fla., the Bulldogs will win the Eastern Division with a win.

That’s assuming both teams win out in the rest of their SEC games. And, of course, assuming the Gators chomp the Gamecocks in half on Saturday.

That’s why Georgia players and coaches are rooting for Florida this week.

Georgia junior quarterback Aaron Murray, who’s from Tampa, Fla., gave Bulldogs fans his permission to pull for the Gators on Saturday.

“I think everyone gets a free pass this week who’s a Georgia fan,” Murray said while meeting with the media this week. “I’m not saying to deck out in Florida gear, but you can definitely be a little happier if they can come out with a victory Saturday.”

Apparently, Georgia coach Mark Richt didn’t follow Murray’s advice as he sported a little Gators-friendly attire during his Monday “Bulldog Hotline” call-in show.

“I’ve actually got a little bit of orange in my shirt today,” Richt was quoted as saying during the show in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution blog. “I don’t have anything that has pure orange but I’ve got one has red and orange stripes. I wore it today in honor of the Florida Gators, but that’s it.”

Host Scott Howard replied with, “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“I’m a Florida fan this weekend,” Richt laughed.

The SEC Championship is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Dec. 2 in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome.

Here’s a look at the SEC Eastern Division standings:

Team SEC Overall

Florida 5-0, 6-0

South Carolina 4-1, 5-1

Georgia 3-1, 5-1

Vanderbilt 1-3, 2-4

Tennessee 0-3, 3-3

Kentucky 0-4, 1-6

Missouri 0-4, 3-4

mikecapshaw
mikecapshaw
Mike Capshaw brings a wealth of experience to the Gator Country team. He’s been overseeing all editorial aspects of GatorCountry.com and Gator Country magazine by managing our team of staffers, interns and freelancers. He is now moving into a bigger role as a reporter by covering the football and basketball beats as well as providing coverage of all sports on campus. Mike’s 15 years in the business has included more than six years of covering SEC sports and recruiting at a daily newspaper in Arkansas. He has also helped launch a newspaper, magazines, websites and even a sports talk radio show. Because Mike puts family ahead of his career, he left the place where he was established when his wife received an opportunity to further her career at UF. He took a leap of faith that he could find a job in the Gainesville area and worked for a year at a newspaper group before joining the Gator Country family in November, 2011. Mike has won Florida Press Association awards for Best Sports Game Story and Best Sports Feature Story in the past two years as well as a company-wide award at his former newspaper group that includes some 60 publications, for Excellence in Sports Reporting. You can follow Mike on Twitter at @MikeCapshawGC.