Revenge.
One words that carries with it a weight of meaning. Depending on the context and situation, revenge can be the greatest motivator or someone’s biggest pitfall. For both the Florida Gators and the Georgia Bulldogs it will be a factor on Saturday.
Interestingly enough, when asking Gator players to describe the game in three words, revenge never came up. Instead they focused more on the all-encompassing history of the rivalry.
“Competiveness, tradition and winning,” said defensive back Nick Washington who grew up in Jacksonville attending The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.
“Crazy. Competitive. Hard style,” is how defensive back Quincy Wilson described it.
Offensive lineman Antonio Riles had to expound a bit more -“ I actually have four words; reason I came here.”
Riles grew up a Georgia fan who was “right in the heart of it” but is happy to be on the other side. Despite plenty of friends from home suiting up for the Bulldogs, Riles doesn’t have one person in particular he wants to take on.
“It’s just Georgia period, it don’t matter who I go up against; anybody in red.”
That, really, is the best way to describe the game.
Played on the banks of the St. John’s River, Florida-Georgia (and that is the official order of names we’re going with) has spent decades building its legacy and tradition. It is competitive and crazy and hard and the reason some kids choose their respective schools. It is all of these things because of moments in time that have accumulated to create the monster it is today.
And this year, or really this year in addition to the last two years, are it’s own moment in time, and they’re driven by revenge.
At first glance, it’s easy to see why revenge will be a factor on Saturday.
It was at this game a year ago that the Florida Gators came in unranked, a 3-3 record, and essentially playing for their coach’s job.
The Georgia Bulldogs were ninth in the country, with fans having already booked their hotels in Atlanta.
The Bulldogs’ rush defense had been allowing 105.1 yards per game — Florida put up 418 on them on the way to a 38-20 upset.
“Last year we ran like two plays the whole game and they worked,” says wide receiver Brandon Powell. “It was a power play and pretty much that was it. Two power plays and they worked the whole game.”
Everbank Field is always split right down the middle for fans. The stark contrast of orange and blue to red and black makes it easy to find the dividing line. It became even easier in the fourth quarter when Georgia’s side nearly completely emptied with time still left on the clock. After three years of losing to the Dawgs, Florida fans didn’t want to leave the stadium and Georgia fans couldn’t get out of there fast enough and the picture from above will live on in Gator lore forever; probably not Georgia’s though — fans have worked hard to exorcise it during the past year while also determining to never let it happen again.
The Florida Gators players are prepared for that though.
“Definitely a bit of revenge I think in their eyes,” says offensive lineman Trip Thurman. “When any team runs over 400 yards on the ground, it’s kinda like ‘We want to get back at you guys,’ so we’re gonna be prepared for that and can’t wait.”
Quincy Wilson agrees, saying, “Yeah, they’re definitely looking for some revenge because I think we embarrassed them last year… Like last year, they probably weren’t expecting it to go that way… But they’re going to be on point. That just really makes an emphasis on us being on point because the atmosphere and the whole week, ain’t no telling how the game’s going to go.”
And if you ask Kelvin Taylor, who was part of that two headed attack in 2014 and put up 197 yards against the Dawgs, he knows there’s some steam left over from last year’s dumpster fire that Georgia will be riding in on.
“Aw man I’m sure they gonna have a really big chip on their shoulders. I’m sure they going to be ready to beat us and they’re going to be very hyped,” says Taylor with noticeable anticipation.
“We got to play our best game cause those guys are gonna be hyped as well cause of what happened last year. We just got to go in there and have our best game.”
It’s almost as if the scripts are flipped. Florida came into the 2014 contest on a three-year losing streak to Georgia, unranked and with nothing to lose. The Bulldogs were on their way to the SEC Championship game and just needed to take care of pesky little Florida for a clear road.
Now it’s the Gators who are on the fast track to the Georgia Dome and need the matchup against unranked Georgia to go their way to help smooth sailing through November. Granted, the Bulldogs could still mathematically win the SEC-East, but it’s not a stretch to say they’re essentially out of contention. So why wouldn’t they come out and throw everything but the kitchen sink towards Jim McElwain in his inaugural Cocktail Party? Truthfully, they most likely will, and as Thurman, Wilson and Taylor all said, they’re preparing for that exact scenario. But they’re also aware of another, more important fact.
“This [is] one of the biggest teams in our division that can really, I mean, it could like mess up our season,” explains Taylor.
That is where revenge for Florida comes into play.
Since 2014 was such a shocker and only a year ago, it’s the easiest memory to go back to. Florida Gators players can go back a bit father though — like to 2012.
“I think it’s more of a revenge [for us],” clarifies Nick Washington, “For the year that we were 11 and 1 and we were getting ready to go to the SEC Championship and that was kind of what stopped us, so I think it’s more revenge in that aspect.”
In 2012, it was No. 3 Florida versus No. 12 Georgia.
Caleb Sturgis was the only Gator to score points that day, as Florida fell 17-9.
You just had a flashback of Jordan Reed fumbling at the 5-yard line with 2:05 left in the game didn’t you?
Don’t go back to that place; it’s dark and scary and children never laugh there.
Granted, most guys on this team were still in high school during that season; but there’s enough still around that remember. According to the participation report, there were six guys that played in that game that are still on the Florida Gators roster — Jon Bullard, Antonio Morrison, Brian Poole, Latroy Pittman, Valdez Showers and Ralph Andreas.
You can guarantee they remember what it felt like walking out of the Bank that Saturday three years ago knowing that the silver platter had just been yanked straight out of their hands…or more aptly, it had been knocked out by Jarvis Jones.
So on this upcoming Halloween night, two teams take the field, both with something to gain, both with something to lose and both with something to prove. That could be a scary in it self, but when the person lining up across from you has just as much motivation as you do. The fear sort of cancels out. So does the history and tradition and maybe even the future. As soon as the ball is snapped on Saturday, it will only be about Florida and Georgia; this stretch in time and revenge on the mind.