Let's face the facts, it has been quite ugly. What was once an automatic win has been a pure nightmare for the last 17 years or so. In fact, if you were born after the mid 70's, you probably don't have a recollection of it being any other way. But trust me, once upon a time, it was a different story.
The most common line of reasoning behind this momumental collapse is that Dooley retired and UGA hired a bonehead while UF hired the Evil Genius and a mismatch was formed. Where there's smoke there's fire and those two events happening in the same timeframe didn't help.
But, more importantly, and the largest underlying reason for the trainwreck that has become the UGA / UF rivalry is simply the "Florida Factor". We too often think only of the University of Florida when we recall the recent history of this series. You have to look a little deeper to find the entire story. A history lesson follows.
The State of Florida is home to 3 BCS schools; Florida, Florida St., Miami. A study of the history of their programs, prior to 1980, is a study of futility for the most part. Miami had limited success in the 40's & 50's, Florida was actually a top 10 program in the 60's but struggled otherwise, and FSU didn't have a team prior to 1954.
(OK, technically 4 bcs schools but USF doesn't have a history at all)
Times change and the state's population exploded.
Why does Canada produce more superstars in hockey than the USA ?......it's what they do
Why does everywhere else in the world produce more superstars in soccer than the USA?.....again, it's what they do
Why do inner-cities pump out elite basketball players.........ride thru & count the number of basketball goals vs. baseball fields vs. football fields.........or in simpler terms, it's what they do
What do the best male athletes in Florida do?.......they play football.
Couple that with the population explosion and all of a sudden, you have mucho college eligible talent. Those two roads crossed in the early 80's. Add great coaching to tremendous talent, and the "Florida Factor" is born. Major beatdowns follow shortly thereafter.
The top program and #10 program of the decade are included for comparison.
Hopefully, you can see quickly that it wasn't just UF that has been kickin ass for the last 25 years or so. The 3 big Florida programs made the entire country their personal whippin posts, especially in the 90's. The only joy the rest of the country could garner was when we could watch these 3 beat up on each other.
Thankfully (for everybody else), things seem to have planed out a little. It only takes 20 years or so for the rest of the SEC and the nation to realize that recruiting Florida = success. Based on the numbers provided by the major recruiting services, either Florida or Texas (always very close) provide the highest number of elite college football recruits. California is usually not far behind with Georgia 4th and actually taking the 3rd spot on occasion.
Ok, back to UGA/UF. 15-3 over the last 18 meetings. Pure unadulterated hell. Especially when it follows a period that UGA had gone on a 15-4 run. Those were better times. Then came the 90's. The ol' ballcoach came along and had us outmanned and outcoached. Jacksonville, commonly referred to as "Athens South", now became the Swamp from Hell. Our starting 22 may have compared favorably with theirs, but hell, they had 40 more on the sidelines that were just as talented. In the 90's we won 1 freakin game........ONE!! Six of those losses were absolute behind-the-woodshed ass whuppin's of Biblical proportions.
Times change. We've closed the gap talent-wise to the point of being even, and probably deeper in alot of areas. Our coaching staff stacks up favorably with anyone. The 2-6 record this decade still sux, but 4 of the losses were 7 points or less. A couple of those games we lost due to the fact that our team didn't believe that they could win. Maybe this little gem will change that attitude.
Better days are ahead.
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